This event happened last summer.
After a day of shenanigans around Seattle including blow up woman dolls and sheep (don’t ask), our bachelor party settled down at my house for some good old fashioned Texas hold ‘em poker.
$10 buy in. Big stakes right? Yeah, right.
$10,000 To Start
Earlier in the week I had deposited $10,000 into my very highly leveraged forex trading account. I was feeling good about this 10K, and right off the bat I was up to around 20K within the first few days of the week. The party started on a Thursday, and I had opened some positions in the Euro vs. Dollar (EUR/USD) before the party.
Mad Cell Phone Quote Checking
I remained in the positions during the day, frantically checking quotes on my cell phone while trying not to arouse too much suspicion. The guys probably thought I was waiting for a text from a hot lady or something (that would have been better!).
Back to the poker game…
Like a dumbass (I was) I kept my computer next to me during the poker game so I could watch my trades. Talk about a good friend, right? Anyway, while the poker game was heating up, so was the currency market. All my trades were going the right way during the game.
After the poker game finally concluded, I was able to close out my now very profitable positions.
I had made $10,975 during my friends bachelor party.
Oh, and I got second in the poker game. $40 in cash.
The worst part about all of this (or maybe not), is that during the poker game I was genuinely more worried about losing my $10 in that game than I was about the 10K I had in play in a wild currency market.
I can’t believe I did that. I had to login to my trading account to check those numbers last night. While the flashing quote lights were tempting, I had no desire to trade forex again. I hurt too many people and myself with my white collar gambling.
On a side note, I traded that 30K up to over 50K within the next week, only to lose all my gains and end up back where I started with 10K. Lesson? Don’t trade Forex when you are 23 years old and stupid.
If you are interested in learning how to trade forex, this site has some good tutorials
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Congrats on having no desire to trade again, and on recognizing the damage it caused. That is a sign of growth and maturity. You will be all right because you are living in reality, which is always the best place to be. The tough times are tough, but success is so much more meaningful when it comes from good old fashioned hard work such as what you are doing!
My cousin and his Wharton buddies all told me that FOREX is the fastest way to lose your shirt. Sorry had to learn the hard way!
Oh, miraculous personality transplants! It’s enough to make one believe in… divinity.
we all trade every day, of course. but i’m remarkably cautious with other people’s money. now you are too.
That you say is was “tempting” and “don’t trade Forex when you are 23 years old and stupid” makes me suspect that it’s just your huge debts that prevent you trading forex at the moment. I suspect that you may be tempted to trade again if you clear up your debts in a couple of years and think you are “older and wiser”. The biggest trap with trading is the belief that you can learn from “mistakes” and do better “next time”. As a “reformed” tradaholic I surprised that you even logged into your trading account – in fact, why the heck is that account still open? Download whatever records you might need for tax etc., and close the account for good. It would be a real tragedy if you worked your butt off to clear you debts and build up a successful business, and then started trading again in a couple of years time and get into trouble again.