I like these parts of the second link and it's a lesson for day trading and investing in general:
Don't Go for Broke
At the gambling tables, it's the amateurs who immediately try to get even after a big loss. Pros accept their defeats as temporary and try to build back their stake slowly.
*EDITED*
He tells the story of his Uncle Howie, an accomplished fliper of cards....."two players sit in the gutter and toss a card toward the wall of an apartment building six feet away. The one whose card lands closest to the wall keeps both cards." One day, little Victor put up his entire collection of 200 baseball cards to back his uncle. "After about an hour, my uncle has lost all of his cards plus 199 of mine. At that point, he wins a throw, giving us two. The winner gets to choose the size of the next throw [how many cards will be at stake], and he calls out 'two.' Seeing certain bankruptcy, I start crying. Howie goes on to win back all but 10 of my cards."
Later, Victor scolds Howie for risking everything on one toss. But Howie tells Victor, "If you are going to gamble, the only way to do it is to gamble. The only person who can grind out a profit is Bookie, because he takes 5 percent off the top, regardless."
Writes Niederhoffer: "I have never forgotten this advice. Often, when I am down and out after some terrible speculation, I'll come back with another large trade....'I'm going for broke,' I always respond. . . . If it was right for Howie then, it's true today, some 43 years later."
Well, that may have been the right advice for Howie then, but it wasn't right for Victor last month, and it's not right for small investors -- ever.
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The card flipping sounds a lot like the stock market. The cards sound like money The bookie that is mentioned sounds a lot like a brokerage.
The analogy is present, and he probably beat up his uncle for teaching him that philosophy that caused him to lose everything.
I'll try to avoid "Going for Broke!!" You can only be lucky so many times!
Regards, Wisam |
