The Stock Market Ruined My Life

The video below takes place on Martin Luther King Day, one day before the market opens down Tuesday morning, January 22nd, 2008. The futures trader in the video went long 10 ER2 contracts (mini Russell 2000 index) the Friday before.  Unfortunately, the market gapped down and took the poor guy for his life savings.  The video is pretty disturbing to watch and contains a lot of profanity.  If anything, it should teach us to expect the unexpected and also that the market is unforgiving.

The Video 

Stock Future Trader Gets Slammed

The Traders Website

http://highprobability.blogspot.com

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The Speed of the Forex Game is Slowing

What a day…  in my short trading career, this is the first time I can ever remember the Fed making an emergency rate cut.  It was certainly interesting.

Though this may not apply to today’s price action, I feel like after 2+ years of trading that the speed of the Forex game is slowing for me. To explain this, think of the phrase typically used to describe a professional athlete when he/she finally "gets it."  Commentators and athletes can commonly be heard saying, "that the game is slowing."  In other words, everything around them seem to be moving slowly yet they are moving full speed ahead.  This is quite an advantage.  I’m not saying that I finally "get it" or that I’m a successful trader but it feels like everything around me is moving a slower than it once did and I no longer feel like I’m constantly playing catch-up.  On the other hand, the stock market feels like it’s moving at light speed while I’m standing still.  

This leads me to posting an email from another trader who I initially discussed this subject with.  I like to post other traders comments once in a while so that you can get another perspective on things:

I have been trading a little over 2 years also, but with some real heavy hours…….10 + a day.  I wanted to run something by you.  I finally narrowed down from trying to trade 5 pairs, to just 1.  Since the first week of Dec. I have mainly only traded the EUR/JPY.  My results have been the best trading I have ever done. I have many more gains than losses.  As you probably know, the pair can start moving in the early to late afternoon (MST)
and continue on into the early a.m.  Since it is not dollar based, I find it to be much less volatile.  Many of my trades are after 9:00 p.m. and into the early a.m.  Because most of my trades are after the U.S. market is closed, I believe fewer people are trading.  In my opinion the signals I use are much more true, and tend to follow thru more often.
I am trading the 30 M chart, with MA’s and MACD, using higher charts for confirmation on the moves.  I am more disciplined and more patient than I have ever been.  I still break my rules once in awhile, and usually suffer a loss.  I also believe that because I am only watching one pair, I will miss fewer moves, and also become more familiar with how the pair moves.  Guess I just wanted to know what another trader thought of this.  

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