Someone needs to hear this

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Hi guys. First time poster here. I wanted to share my recent trading experience (futures on oil and natural gas) as I am sure it will help some people on this forum.

I recently got into trading futures on commodities as I found the lure of outsized returns for betting on the right price action amazing. I followed many of the best day traders on twitter and watched all the youtube videos (shorts) but never really got into learning about risk management.

In the first 6-8 months I made close to £70k which was incredible. It was most of my annual earnings from my day job and I couldnt believe it. However I just got lucky… I was taking naked trades (no downside protection) and outriding the losses because I had enough capital to survive the downs (that always came first) before the ups which made me whole and created a profit.

This kept going for another few months but I got locked into going long in Natural Gas before the trump election (which was stupid) and prices were dropping like crazy. I thought I could ride it out with my capital and buying at $2.7 - I never EVER thought the price would get below $2.5… let alone $2

The price ultimately went to $1.8 and at 10x leverage, my entire capital stack (two years of savings) was wiped out alongside some loans I took out to try and short… but it was too late.

I know there are some people out there who don’t believe the price will go lower (or higher depending on your position) but I wish someone had shook me then and said take a 10% capital loss and move on with your life and screamed risk management at me. Ultimately I learnt a very hard lesson… I am still on the fence about ever returning but for the time being I am going on a risk management / blue print course on trading to learn how to mitigate risk (I have an awesome recommendation if anyone is interested - its my old man and he is genuinely amazing - been doing it for 20+ years and I still didnt listen!) but hoping to get confidence back before dipping my toes in again.

Please guys. Trade smart and always manage your positions… I might just be the guy you need to tell you to close that position!

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How do you balance the risk of “naked trades” versus protecting your downside? Have you found any strategies that work well for managing that risk?

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This is one of the most valuable lessons I’ve come across here. I’ve also experienced the “dark side” myself — back in 2008. Luckily, I was still very young then, so even though I lost all my savings, I was able to start over around 2010.

I remember renting from a Spanish guy who owned several properties in London. When the crash hit, he told me I had to move out because he’d sold everything — he’d lost absolutely everything he owned. He was actually crying when he told me. That moment really stuck with me.

Since then, I’ve never rushed into anything or panicked over missing an opportunity — not even during moments like the Bitcoin boom. Opportunities will always come again, but if you make the wrong decision, your entire capital can be wiped out in an instant. The market can be incredibly unpredictable, and it doesn’t care how badly you want to win.

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I had to start from the beginning and learn the basics. I found a course that really helped (lmk if you want to know which one) and now focus on size / leverage as well as careful stop loss position. Sometime you can have a stop loss set but in reality you would never close because the loss is more than you want to take. It takes discipline to let it actually ride to the stop position

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Thanks for sharing your story! :open_mouth: I get how the high from winning can make people a bit reckless with their trades. :sweat_smile: But I’m happy you’re still giving it a go somehow. Taking that course can really help you. :blush: When you say it’s your old man, do you mean it’s your actual father? :smiley: Haha. If so, seems like trading runs in your blood then! :sweat_smile:

Good luuuuuck and I hope this can also be a reminder to others out there. :blush: