We've all been there....looking at a chart a year later and saying to ourselves "WHY, OH WHY, didn't I just pull the trigger!?!?!" The chart shows us the sad truth that if only we would have gotten long, we would have had 500% returns, an island in Fiji, and 6 cars!
But we didn't...
We here at The Trader's Blog, would like to know what trade would have been your best...if only you would have taken it? Did you see something special in Google at 100.00 in 2004? Was Spot Gold primed at 256 in 2001? What made you stay out of Wheat around the 500.00 mark? Whatever your story we want to hear about it!
We'll be giving away an Apple iTouch!
How you enter:
Comment today and tell us what that trade would have been...and what you would have bought with the returns!! Here are some trades that we in the office wished we would have done:
Bob F. "I wish I would have gotten long USO February of 2007, when Crude just started to move!"
Melissa P. "Playing the AMEX_SKF which is an ultra short financial ETF around April when Bear's crashed."
Lindsay T. "Shorted NASDAQ_TRMP on our last monthly Trade Triangle at 16.51 in January of this year...that would have been huge!"
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Here are the details:
1. This contest open for 2 WEEKS!
2. Winner will be picked randomly by software to remove human errors.
3. One entry per person!
4. Winner will be contacted via email.
5. No wrong answers, participation counts as an entry.
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iTouch and Apple are a registered trademark of Apple, Inc. All rights reserved. INO.com is not partner with Apple for this contest and do not hold any type of partnership.
exactly, I am a poor boy but I'm not stupid boy.I like so much,learning about how to be a rich man.For the firsttimes,I don't know how could I have learnt to be a "broker".nice words.I like it so much.everyday,I'm always dream be a richman,I'll buy anythings in this world.helping the poor children and society.Ohh..GOD!!!,let me be a "Broker".amienn....:>!!
Now, I'm trying to explode my account in marketiva.I've to hard work,coz I only have $5,now its become $9.2. little happy.I wish that I can deposit to my account,but I don't have enough money so far.I get low earns from my company,because its a poor company.God...!!,save my ways....
I had just recently purchased a decent sized lot of RIMM OCT '08 $100 Put options from my technical charting analysis, also aware of the earnings release coming out on the close of Thursday, Sept.25th, 2008. As the puts rose in value I sold off a portion of them for a meager 40% gain in a few trading days. I had done my options analysis on the stock and seen a put/call ratio of 1.37, and a higher open interest on every single out of the money put option, so I was confident holding the rest of my contracts into earnings. Friday morning, RIMM opened down 26% and sent my Put options soaring 260% in value, I entered at $700 a contract and exited 2 days later for $2750 a contract. Cheers!
In 1972 I was studying a book of companies at a brockerage,and found a company that owened the rights to the Alaska pipeline. Now the US Gov. was about to approve this pipeline so I thought that I might buy 200 shares at $4.00 each. When I went to the broker and told him my idea to buy British Petroleum, he, wearing a suit and tie put his arm over my sholder and led me to the stock purchase area, and said no son that is not what you want to buy....here buy this Johnson and Johnson stock at $8.00 a share. So I listened to him and bought one hundred shares. As long as it has taken me to write this, J and J shares srarted plumeting, so I sold at market and lost some two hundred dollars.
When the pipeline was approved, BP trippled to $12.00 immediately. I am sue I could have bought a brand new Matador, in 1972.
Long FRE 100,000 shares @ $2 the day after the Fed buyout. Exit @ $4 45min later.
Long 100,000 AIG last week at $2, exit above $5.
Of all the amazing trades this year the most amazing were the GOOG APR 530 Calls. Bought on Thursday before expiration, and Google's Q1 earnings release, at the close $1,000 turned into $100,000 at the next open.
Say you risked $10,000 in a tax free IRA:
Entry
$0.10(cost of contract)x1,000(number of contracts)x100(number of shares
each contract controls)
=$10,000
Exit
$17.53(bid at the open)x1,000x100
=$1,753,000
I would have dropped off the face of the Earth and explored every continent.
i bought apple at 50 $ and sold i before the ipodmission for about 90.-- tzzzzz.
Back in the 1960's I worked at IBM research, where we were told that a small company named Elco had been awarded the exclusive contract for "connectors" in computers and other hardware manufactured by IBM.
I mentioned this in passing to my hard-of-hearing cousin, who had interests in real estate and in the stock market. Some months later I met this cousin again. He pumped my hand and thanked me enthusiastically and profusely for the recommendation. As I did not recall the details, he reminded me that I had touted Ecko, a manufacturer of pots and pans (that I had never heard of) and decided to invest a large sum into this company. Fortunately, Ecko did very well in a short time and by the time he sold off, the cousin had made pots of money on this "tip". As for Elco, I think it quietly disappeared...
I am thinking of registering as a stock adviser for the deaf!
GNLB made $24k in one day as the stock shot up with estimated FDA results supposed to come out positive. Over the next month the stock struggled and eventually news came out that the FDA denied the drug, I ended up losing $50k, most costly lesson to date.
Don't laugh, I'm just a little fish.
I wished I'd have bought WAMU when it was down to 3. in July and then sold it when it was up past $5 in August. I would probably would have invested just $3-4K max.
I would have taken the $1-2K profit and let my teen help me chose a new pick or two. She thinks she would like to play the commodity market (but we both have some learning to do.)
I didn't belong to this website then...so I figure my plan still has a chance!
;^D
When I think of a trade and enter it, it always moves in the opposite way of my position.
i want to internal fund transfer form forexcapital77.us/ now
Forgot to say what I would spend it on.
Maybe a new fishing boat. Nothing fancy, just better/newer than what I have so I can spend more time fishing and less time fixing the boat.
I live a simple life as that's the best, so the bulk of the money would just be banked. Probably spend some help out the local daycare that did a great job with my kids. Stuff like that.
I was ready to invest $50,000 in LU (lucent) after the bottom fell out the price dropped to 25 cents.
LU was a good company, but they fell victim to the SAP software. I won't bore you with the long story, but there was reason to believe it was worth more than a 25 cents.
I brought the company up with a business professor at a local university and by the end of the conversation i decided not to buy.
In the months that followed, the LU price topped at roughly $5 a share.
$50,000 @ .25 = 200,000 shares
200,000 x $5 = $1,000,000
That's a profit of $950,000!
Needless to say I was very unhappy with myself.
As a broker in 1987 I opened an account for an options trader. He wanted to buy the OEX put option. He wanted to come in Thursday afternoon, but had a golf date. The contract he selected was at 7/8. When he came in Friday he gritted his teeth and paid 1 3/4. He closed the trade the next Tuesday, Oct 20 for 92. He spent the next 5 years giving most of it back being bearish. One trick pony?
On July 22nd, amid all the problems that were emerging about financial stocks, I sold every holding in my portfolio and went 100% long into a company that ensures corporate debt. I now own the common stock (up 100% since) as well as the senior debt (up 40%). Doing this may have saved my portfolio performance for the year.
As a newbee in stocks back in may 2004,I picked Apple computer stock after a week of analysing and comparing with pennystock.com recomendations.....you know what? I forgot to place the order ... needless to say how I felt a week later when I found out.
Hello
I wish I went short XLF on August 2007. Right after first issue with credit market had appeared. Financial ETF is around 40% down in last year.
Regards
Vladimir
Here is a story for all new traders that have a tendency to panic. After you've done your research and have made a decision to get into a trade. Where to get in and what vehicle to use is very important. Second to nothing and most important to me is the stop loss. I trade high volatility stocks so BIDU has a need for a very loose stop loss. I wanted to short it but it would tie up to much capitol. Being a avid option trader I found one I liked. Normally I give options a 10% stop loss. BIDU options rated a 30% stop loss. A little risky but was feeling OK with it due to some of the information I got from Market Club and there trade triangles. When the stock took a bounce and the PUTS shot up to a 29.2% loss you might imagine what I was feeling. Being patient and sticking with the plan allowed me to watch the stock turn around and drop. As I watched the trade unfold this morning, I was able to sell with a 61.8% profit this morning. The story is make a sound plan, be patient and stick with it. Use all the info you can get, there is some great stuff here at MARKET CLUB. Wishing you the best of trading, Ron.
It is 12 midnight London time on Sunday 31 August 2008. I run my simple weekly program on major currency pairs and the program tells me to SHORT the following pairs GBPJPY, GBPCAD,GBPUSD,NZDJPY,NZDUSD,AUDCHF and GBPCHF for the week.
I am sceptical but do go short 1$ a pip each of these 7 markets. It is too late and I am tired so I retire to bed.
By Friday morning "let your profit run" does not cut any ice with me anymore. I close all 7 trades that happen to be all in profit with over 2500 pips profit in all. Then I wonder WHY on earth did I not short them at least for $10 a pip instead of 1$ a pip?
The one that I missed, and the ones I should have missed.
Due to a basic lack of understanding, I missed out on Googles IPO. I was all set to jump on the IPO to the tune of $100k, and was salivating over the cars,homes,fast women,and slow horses, I was going to spend all my new money on!
Then it happened, just minutes before the IPO was set to begin : A Dutch Uncle Auction IPO.
A what?? What the heck is a "dutch uncle auction?" Couldn't get in touch with my broker, couldn't figure it out myself, so I frantically turned to the web for answers.
Naturally, it was a google search that provided the answers, but it took *me* so long to understand that *I* needed to offer a certain $ amount for each share(s), that by the time I finally figured it out, the auction was fini.
One by one, my new purchases & dreams vanished.
10,000 acre vineyard in France....gone. Gimme a beer, barkeep.
Home in Aspen......bye bye. Can't ski anyhow.
Big beach house in Maui....aloha. No lei's for moi.
Shiny new Ferrari....out of gas. Good thing my '73 VW van still runs.
Two super models on my arm...."security, security, this guy is a creep, help!"
All of it history, and just because I'd not understood what a Dutch Uncle Auction was about.
I'd kinda thought, up to that point, that a dutch uncle was a dutch guy that say's, "Ya, nowa pull on mein finga, ho ho ho."
Well, it isn't, I didn't, and I ain't.
Rats!!
Now, the ones that I did manage to land, but wish I hadn't have:
I’m not much of a trader, and have lousy luck with the trades I’ve made in the past.
My first timid entry into mutual funds ($90k worth) looked marvelous for about a year. I’d get really neat statements each month, and it was super to see all the (unrealized gains), and I was patting myself on the back, oh yeah!
Then gradually, each day’s visit to the website saw less & less (unrealized gains) until I started seeing (unrealized net losses) appear in my monthly statements. Now I was kicking myself in the behind, , and finally called the broker, and sold everything.
Paid all the “early withdrawal penalties", calculated my increased tax exposure, and swore I’d never buy another stock, bond, or anything else like that.
So, when gold was @ 397.50 spot, I bought it, and took delivery a couple weeks later.
In 3 months time all my losses from the stock market, as well as all the nasty penalties & tax costs had not only been covered, *but I made a ton of (unrealized gains) to boot!*
Happy fellow was I!!!
So pleased was I that I purchased even more gold, as well as some palladium bars.
I still have all my gold, in the vault, but recently I traded the palladium because it wasn’t performing well, for gold, and tossed in another $84,500 in cash to get the best price that I could for a blue collar guy like myself.
Naturally, the very next trading session saw gold spot falling, but the palladium fell even further(and faster), so as of today, I still a winner, and remember I like winning!
Oh yeah, remember my promise to myself to never again buy stocks because the glare from the mirrors blinds me, and the smoke makes me cough?
IOW, I’m just not smart enough to pick’em & do anything but lose.
Well, I broke that promise in January 2006, and paid $5.80 a share for a few thousand shares in Sirius Sat Radio, and naturally, two days later the stock began to fall. I still own it, and today it closed at $1.34 a share. (unrealized loss of $4.46 a share) but I’m holding on to it to see if the very recent merger with XM Sat Radio will boost my shares values. But, considering my past performances in picking stocks, tomorrow all their satellites will probably fall back down to earth, and I’ll lose everything I have invested in the now Sirius XM Radio, Inc. Be just my luck for a few of their satellites crash through the roof of my office, and set me on fire.
So to those of you that can pick winning stocks, a tip of my cap to you. Kudos!
Me? I’ll keep my gold & silver in the vault, and that will be that.
–=Jeremy=–
Got the top in August 2001 in the Dax with a put-option and knew that we could see a move more than 1500 Point down cause of cycle-analysis.
Put the stopp after 50% in the profitzone above entry.
German Dax made a pullback, my stop got hit with 20% profit and than with 9/11 the option rose from 3000 to 150.000 in 3 weeks without me.
Oh BOY
It was June 2004, I bought my first Apple computer and after using it for awhile and seeing great potential in the company, I said I gotta invest in this company (~$30 / share). I didn't. Nuts!
I wanted to open spread betting INTC (long) vs. AMD (short) exactly one year ago. It could brought 50% profit.
Cheers and good trades for all of you,
Vlada
None of the "rules" work!
No particular trade for myself, there would be so many if I took that road. I now try to utilize the past as a way to step foward in understanding my mental or emotional habits at that time to become more disciplined- a work always in progress.
I've learned alot of trading lessons over the years (and still learning,and enjoying thanks to marketclub). The most important one being -win or lose, go with your gut, not your butt because sometimes thats where your head is located!
I bought AMR July 16 for $5.20 when the trend broke to the upside. I wish I held on to that position up till $10, but I underestimated the power of trend analysis.
Cheers,
Mark
Shorting GM Nov 2 2007, buying a put option when the marketclub software showed a red trade triangle on the weekly chart at around $36, getting out in January for $25-$26, a nice 2 month option play that would have had triple digit returns - then, I would have had more moneyto build my trading account.
Unfortunately I wasn't a member of Marketclub back then!
I used to trade 30,000 lots on the EURUSD forex but this week I chose to go with 10,000 lots because I was not very sure of the market. I went short on the EURUSD at 1.4589 and exited at 1.4526 giving me just 63pips. And now the trend is still falling rapidly.
I wished I had waited a little longer and I would have made about 196pips and $588. I wanted to use the proceeds to buy a foreing stock in my country.
Altogether I would have made about $1,231. That would have been the biggest trade for me in a day.
Cheers Wale Iyanda
Lagos, Nigeria
Yesteradays market was dead giveaway and I didn't pull the trigger.
I wish I was more confident taking planned losses because to be honest I would make a lot of money if I took planned losses.
No one particular trade for me - and I think that's the case for most traders as well. The problem is not the big one that got away, but too many years of inconsistency.
If I had a dollar for each time I said 'I wish I'd entered', I'd probably be far better off than I am now.
Mine was on the USD/CAD in June/July. I had been watching it like a hawk while it went sideways, and wanted to go long. Then all of sudden it took off just when I had given up on it
I wish I believed more in my instinct and put an order to buy NQU8(Emini) at a change of -6 points yesterday(02/09/2008) at 14:00 GTM 10+. As when the market opened it had gone up +33, in total 39 points or $780 per contract.. I've to believe more in myself sometimes.
I use to trade between 2 to 3 contracts as I don't have too much money to put on.
That would be around $2,340.00 of profit and would finish the day very happy.
Cheers,
Adilson Dias
I wish I wouldn't have gotten out of NYMEX crude at $123. I bought a call when it was under $100. I could have gotten out later when it was above $140!
As a newbie I wish I pulled the trigger to sell a stock and capture the gain.
I bought CROX at the beginning of April and saw my investment rise 10%. It then dropped a bit, but I held on, in case it rose once more ... before it fell off a cliff on some bad news! I got out with a 25% loss. The sad thing is that if I had sold short when I got out, I'd be sitting pretty now.
With the money I'd be keeping on learning about this whole trading thing. I guess I did learn something from my loss though, so who knows maybe it'll be worth it in the long run.
Wish I could Win
Larry
I've been following WYNN as it ran up and then subsequently after it peaked and sold off.
The perfect entry was at $75 on 7/15/08.
Ran up to a high of $119.74 on 8/11/08.
$45 on the swing in a bit less than a month.
What irritated me was not that I saw the entry, but I did not pull the trigger because the price for a 1,000 lot was a bit expensive, but I could have bought calls, which I didn't.
I had played puts as it was correcting down after its all time high.
I would have bought my wife a new car.
Thanks,
Barry
I wish I could of got in the VMW IPO, while it was on its initial tear, of course.
One of the best Canadian stocks to play the Canadian Oil Sands is Canadian Oil Sands Trust...COS.UN on the TSX. Around October 2006, rumours started swirling around in the Canadian press that the Canadian Federal government was going to tax all the Income trusts like a corporation, thus any owner of Income trusts would pay double taxes. Well on Oct 31st..Halloween..after market close, they confirmed these rumours. When the market opened on Nov. 1st, COS.UN plunged to a low of $24.32, over 20% in one day. It scared everybody including me because I owned 1300 units. I wish I had taken the contrarian view that day and bought more. I would have realized a gain of over 100% in a little over a year, not to mention the 50% increase in the dividend payout since that time!!!
I WISH I had enough experience to have pulled the trigger many times, I have studied for years and missed all moves. When I first started to learn this forex giant I was told to just go long and forget it with the pair EURUSD in September 2005 by my than Mentor and oil price booming It was like a race that I couldn't win because of lack of guts. I look at it today and see what I missed out on and the dream house and car put back in the draw. I still have the burning desire and MarketClub arrived into my email box somehow
I would have dumped Enron big in October 2000. Soon after, they were giving away Enron shares when you bought a soda.
Going short Yahoo just before the Microsoft deadline. I was convinced that the deal wouldn't go through because from a technical (i.e. technology, stock technicals) perspective it just didn't make sense. This was a no brainer trade which would have bought some nice toys...
I wish I'd shorted XAGUSD on the 14th of Aug this year - from 15.08 all the way down to 13.00 in 2 days.
I would've made construction repairs to my grandpa's village house and would've created a beautiful garden around it.
Growing plants is even better than trading 🙂 no risk and huge returns 🙂 (of plants, fruit and herbs 🙂 )
In early 98 IBM @ around 44/50 dollars. Pundits were heming and hawing. Ididn't get in. 6 months later @ 80/85 they were now in IBM . They had theirs and now were issueing buys. It went to 130 in spring of 99. Mine would have been in 48 out at 120.
Okay, here is my story of the one that got away... It was Jan 2003 and TASR caught my eye at $3.50 a share, I usually buy stock in 1,000 share blocks (easier to sell covered calls in blocks of 10), so for $3,500 here is what could have happened. TASR went parabolic in 2003 and I could not justify chasing the stock so I never bought the stock. Then it split 3-1 Feb 2004, 2-1 Apr 2004 and 2-1 Nov 2004. TASR PPS also peaked at $31.65 in Nov 2004 which meant the original 1000 shares would have turned into 12,000 valued at $379,800 - Oh woulda, coulda, shoulda. BTW I did make "some" money on the way up with call options and a little more on the way down with put options but, nothing like what I could have made if I had pulled the trigger when I first found the stock.
I missed out on a 132% return in less than a month by seling UAUA (United Airlines) too quickly. As a shorter term trader, I prefer to use Market Club's weekly breakout signals as entry points, and keep my stops tight with the daily exit signals. UAUA got a weekly signal @ 5.73 on 7/22, along with a breakout from a nice basing pattern on heavy volume. I entered on the weekly signal, but sold way too early @ 7. If would have used the daily signals to set stops like I normally do, I would've got stopped out @ 13.3 on 8/20. Geez...
After I got laid off in 1994 I watched CNBC constantly. One morning they announced that there had been a frost in Brazil. Prices opened about fifty cents higher that morning. Being low on funds and unemployed, I was scared to take the trade. I decided to paper trade it instead. I knew the price range would be great that day so I placed my buy order at a very low level. I did not think it would get hit but it did. I exited 4 days later with $13K in PAPER profits. In retrospect, I should have made $30,000 in U.S. Dollars, but I was just starting out and inexperienced. I had no plans to purchase anything. I would have used this money as seed capital to start my trading career off right. In the long run, I think missing out on this opportunity made me a better trader. I also think a FREE Apple iTouch will make me a better trader - 🙂
I have several - LOL. My most recent was JRCC.
It broke $19.80 in april.. I got the pullback and didnt' trust it then something else looked more apealing for he short term. My strategy gives me a clear entry signal on 5/2 meaning I'd be in on 5/5 (EOD swing trade only. The strategy then dosen't give a conclusive exit till July 2nd at $50.25 when it broke the lower 10 period donchian chanel.
perfect weinstein setup .. perfect Turtle soup initial buy, perfect Donchian breakouts on multipe time frames, Perfect Turtle trend following setup. And I suspect that Trade Triangels would have had me in somewhere around the week of 4/9 and out the week of 7/11. But as it wen and went and went I got more and more afraid to buy it.
I try to pyramid my trades also so this gain would have been considerable.
I wish I had understood the market cycle more when market had a bear's rally in May so that I could have bailed out my poor 401K plans.
I was out of the country (and away from trading) for six months and dreaming of a market where I could build a several positions and watch it fall through the floor with few or no retracements to cause any anxiety. I started trading again in early July this year and soon saw an opportunity in the Sept Aussie $. I sold one contract on July 31 at 9399 and cashed out at 9259 on Aug 1. Nice. I sold another one on Aug 4 at 9273 and sold at 9093 on Aug 5. I sold another one on Aug 8 at 8894 and sold at 8781 on 8-11. Great. Made about $4000. However, had I stuck to the dream and sold 2 at 9400, 2 at 9300, 2 at 9200, etc, I would be sitting pretty today (Sept 2) as prices fell through the floor overnight and are currently at 8330 this morning.