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"Hold" Ha. No, you trade your ass off. I was a local and part of a JBO group, so we had capital and access to more for deposit. Plus, some members of that group were quite venerable in the trading community. So, I benefited from their experience, reputation, and capital. Remember "drawdown" is not necessarily "lost" because positions are not closed. Realized loss is a different thing. There were some doozies associated with working out that situation.
I would say that the "recovery" and trade around necessary to get square did hold the lessons of a lifetime, for sure. What was I going to do at that point, get a job on the loading docks or submit to cubicle life? Refusing to die is not living, but never quitting will teach you how to live. One day and one trade at a time.
Not to hijack the thread, but I think having guys like @wldman around are essential for retaining what I refer to as "tribal knowledge". It's kind of a weird amorphous collective intelligence where the knowledge of the really experienced guys mix with the new ideas of the younger guys and makes this forum all the better. Wow! I'm just really blown away and appreciative thinking about it.
Would you believe the best set up for my trade occurs only once a week, but, it gives me 99% confirmation what is about to happen and I trade it smoothly and nicely.
P. S. It's not a hundred percent because there's no one hundred percent anywhere!
After suffering two separate 40% drawdowns, I have learned to sit on my hands. Overtrading was a ki8ller for me. I have also learned that trading higher time frames helped in keeping me from jumping into too many trades.
I have been trading thru a broker, mostly options that have expired worthless. Had good trades in 2020 untill the end, but this last 3-4 months have been killer with the unexpected rises in the S&P and and the grains for which I blame scarcity and fear of loss of food supply. Looking forward to market evening out with the advent of covid vaccines and the stabilization of countries where production was down
My current drawdown is tied for deepest at ~15%. I started trading with nearly my entire net worth (>80%) - thankfully I've not ever blown up an account. Being well-capitalized, risk-conscious, and skeptical of ones own abilities goes a long way in stunting risk of ruin.
Notable point: I've only been trading for 2.5 years. I'm sure I will endure drawdowns much deeper than 15% over the next few decades.
I monitor my account on a regular basis, I calculate my returns on a daily Monthly and quarterly ETC...
I also monitor my drawdown from my highest account level to the recent low as well you can calculate Max drawdown in a month week ETC... I prefer year Max drawdown rather than a short time. Last year my max drawdown was approximately 50 % yet by year end I had exceeded the returns of S&P 500 and also other Indexes. I have desire to beat other experts in the field of Investing.
My trading technique is by selling naked options in Index, stocks and futures. You need to keep 50 to 60 % available to cover the inevitable volatility related drawdowns. I am using delta neutral in managing my total account. I do buy stock and futures to hold. I usually accept assignments and then manage that position.
A short strangle destroyed 85% of my option account.. Years ago.
I watched the consequences of a bad event during an entire weekend, agonizing. I was lucky to lose 85% only and about 2 years of gains.
A real lesson learned.