TOTW What's the dumbest trade mistake you ever made?

[postman]

mine was way too stupid..
could be quite a long story,...
Eventually I got out of the meeting to find I was £3000 down, 10 minutes of berating her I was £3,500 down and the clock was ticking
She closed for a £3,600 loss.
...
I learnt a huge amount then in a very very short space of time

You were lucky, I berated the wife for 10 minutes once, it cost me a lot more than £500 to set that right.

 

[lloydbee]

Cracking story.........especially with it being out of your control.

It's like being in the front engine room of an out of control freight train with your face stuck to the windscreen (monitor) as you wait for the final impact. Followed by where is that damn cat, it's going to get a kicking

 

[robster970]

Yep plenty of readers, but they must be too shy to post......but hey ho, we have all made c0ck ups.....

I just went out for some dinner and was thinking about this whilst eating. At the time I made the gross error of judgement, there is no way I would have posted up here that I had done this - ego too big, not wanting to admit I had c0cked up, etc, etc....

I suspect that a public admission of failure on any level means you have to accept you are fallible and that can only come with a degree of maturity as you develop as a trader.

Anyway, just a thought....carry on.

 

[Sonicscooter]

Hi, yes very true, i just pulled this quote,

"IF I had really tried my hardest THEN I am sure that I could have done it. The result is obviously the same, but at least they don’t have to blame themselves or take a ‘hit’ on that precious ego."

From,

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/new...tically-how-much-money-can-i-expect-make.html

This and F1, where everything is monitored that you do, it's impossible to not make mistakes, ye, learn form it, but also laugh at your silliness....

Happy days.....

 

[Forexmospherian]

I think I have always done my "dumbest" mistakes every time I have moved from one broker to a new one. I am on my 7th new broker this last 14 months after being at one for over 5 years and one of my early ones for approx 3 yrs. You always need to make say 5 or more trades on their demo account first - simply because more than likely the lay out and settings etc will be different from your previous broker. Many times I have entered a scalp on one click setting on a say a buy - and then come to close with a corresponding sell - only to find out I have opened a new trade and not closed the existing one.

I too have made costly mistakes with wrong lot sizes etc - especially in the early years and of course entered limit orders incorrectly - and left trades on - when I thought I had closed them completely and not double checked when I have closed the platform down for the night.

I have easily had over 5000 losing trades over the last 7 years ( but of course a lot more winning ones )and would agree with Sonic - that its impossible to not make mistakes and I am sure I will make many more over the rest of this year - but as long as they are no longer major ones - I will accept its just a cost you will have of playing the "game"

( that reminds me - must check I am not in any trade I don't know about now ;-) )

Good Trading

F

 

[Npard23]

My worst trade holding short positions on S&P, Russell and CAC 40 without stops for four months in 2012. Lead to a 14% portfolio drawdown before a 21% rally to close the year slightly positive. Fixing risk management was key to turnaround.

 

[xiaoci168]

Mine.....easy.....when i first started, put the position size in the correct box, then miss clicking on the stop loss box.........so you end up with both figures in the same box, then press Buy.

ie.........position size £4....then stop of 15, giving a total in the same box or the new position size of £415 per point on the FTSE......thankfully i came out flat......

That is really an awful mistake.
It could have destroyed your account, you were lucky to come out flat

 

[tar]

Is it me or the stories here are getting longer and longer .... tldr

 

[Sigma-D]

Dumbest mistake I ever made was assuming Alpari would actually keep to their word in allowing me to use a metatrader demo account without restriction providing I used it in accordance with their t&c.

 

[Alpari UK]

Dumbest mistake I ever made was assuming Alpari would actually keep to their word in allowing me to use a metatrader demo account without restriction providing I used it in accordance with their t&c.

Hi Sigma-D,

Your statement is patently untrue. New demo accounts are being opened by people every minute of the day.

IP addresses are blocked only as a last resort. We only take this step when clients abuse the system either by opening large numbers of demo accounts, or flooding the server.
Demo servers have finite space, and we choose to prioritise the use that space for people whose contact details appear genuine.

Alpari is the only broker that offers non-expiring demo accounts. All we ask is that the details that are provided in return for this free service are genuine. That does not seem to be an unreasonable position.

If you would like us to investigate this further, could you please provide your demo account numbers with your contact details. We’d prefer you use the email address with which you registered the account.
We’ll be happy to help.

Alex

________
Alexander Chadwick
Alpari (UK) Representative

 

[tar]

"Alpari is the only broker that offers non-expiring demo accounts."

Not accurate !

 

[postman]

"Alpari is the only broker that offers non-expiring demo accounts."

Not accurate !

Just a quick google search on that phrase shows it to be untrue...

http://www.xm.com/forex-demo
"Non-expiring demo accounts for unlimited use"
http://www.ibfx.com/platform/free-forex-demo-account
http://www.mbtrading.com/mt4demotrading.aspx
...

Alex, thanks for adding to the thread, that post is possibly the dumbest thing youve ever done.

 

[lloydbee]

Hi Sigma-D,

Alpari is the only broker that offers non-expiring demo accounts.

Alexander Chadwick
Alpari (UK) Representative

Yup, SO not true

 

[Alpari UK]

"Alpari is the only broker that offers non-expiring demo accounts."

Not accurate !

Just a quick google search on that phrase shows it to be untrue...

http://www.xm.com/forex-demo
"Non-expiring demo accounts for unlimited use"
http://www.ibfx.com/platform/free-forex-demo-account
http://www.mbtrading.com/mt4demotrading.aspx
...

Alex, thanks for adding to the thread, that post is possibly the dumbest thing youve ever done.

I stand corrected.

It appears one or two others have followed our lead

Alex

________
Alexander Chadwick
Alpari (UK) Representative

 

[lloydbee]

I stand corrected.

It appears one or two others have followed our lead

Alex

________
Alexander Chadwick
Alpari (UK) Representative

OptionsXpress have done it for many yeas, as has Thinkorswim to name just 2 more. I also know TradeMonster also does... the list goes on

 

[awe]

Dumbest things I've ever done in trading (that I can remember right now anyway) :-

1. Trading without a stop
2. Placing a stop too close
2a. Re-entering multiple times after 2 causes me to be stopped out
3. Not wanting to exit a losing trade because I couldn't be wrong and besides it doesn't matter because eventually the market will cycle round and pretty much any losing trade can become a winner in time... Right?

 

[darktone]

I think ive made most of the mistakes along the way.
Most memorable physical mistakes include:-
Getting big near the fri close 'daytrading' nas100 with cmc. I remember 'not being able to close out' due to the platform freezing or something and being stuck with it for the weekend. I remember crying..I remember being on the phone to the dealer monday morning pre open "Just get me out!" lol

When 'the broker' generously offered guaranteed fills, whilst bracket trading NFPR with EURUSD, managing to cancel half a P&C order. Cant remember if it was the entry or stop order that got filled but it cost me 6k in seconds. No amount of bleating on my part made any difference. I guess they wanted some of their money back.:cheesy:

Both o those are small change tho. The biggest mistakes ive made by far, thus far, is to underestimate the importance of the psychological side, and to think that using a stop is a good idea. Im guessing around 99% would disagree

 

[Sonicscooter]

I used to be the revenge trade King, hell, my mind was frazzled at times looking back, if i lost a trade, this part of my brain went into overdrive, so for example if i was at £2 per point and say got stopped out with a £30 loss, id be back in at £5 or £10 a point as "i want MY money back, and I'M right and the stupid market is wrong".

And we all know what happened.............i lost.

Talk about revenge, i may as well have been sat at my desk with a revolver......

My brain was like mashed potato.............

 

[barjon]

Blimey! I'd need an entire thread of my own to list my dumb mistakes.

You'd have thought they'd all be well into history by now, but they keep on coming - mostly to do with second guessing exits.

On the really dumb side I was pair trading long FTSE, short DOW and couldn't quite understand why my account was painting red in bucketloads. Found out I was long FTSE AND long DOW

 

[ffsear]

Many a time i've been caught out by not checking the spreads before a trade. Especially on US equities.

Got hit with 100 points on google once!