T2W Trading Community

I can still remember a drunken sailor trade I made about 10 years ago. The S&P 500 futures contract had rallied all day and it was about 15 minutes before the close. It was a roaring bull market, up maybe 20 points that day. I was having a poor day trading and couldn’t resist forcing one more try. This is usually a big mistake.

In those days you had to call the trading desk to place an order. The futures market was touching a big resistance area as shown by a technique I still use today. I figured it had to have a pull back. I didn’t consider the power of the last half hour on a Friday afternoon, nor used the futures time cycles I use today.

I got the desk on the phone and said, “I want to sell one S&P 500 maxi at the market.” The order guy said in a loud, surprised voice, "you wanna SELL one S&P ?????? !!!” I said, “Yes, I want to SELL one.“ He said, "are you sure you wanna SELL one?” For some reason, every time I got that particular guy on the phone I had a loser, so I told him to forget the order and hung up. As a fitting epitaph, the futures market blew through the highs and it would have been an instant loser. Yes, I’ve made plenty of stupid trades. I’ve had my fair share. I’ve made every mistake a trader can make.

As one wise commodity futures trader once said, your success will depend on how you lose and how it affects you. Some commodity traders are devastated, while others bounce back. But then, some never learn from their mistakes and keep blowing themselves out.

A trader that can pull the trigger, handle losses well and remain patient to take only the best set ups is the person to model yourself after. These trading skills will come and go. We are never always on top. Being human and a discretionary, intuitive commodity futures trader can sometimes be tough. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.