Victor Niederhoffer ran his fund into deficit. John Merriweather threatened the health of our banking system by betting more than fifty times his capital that his strategies were certain to work, that he could forecast with impunity the direction of various bond markets. There's a pattern here of seeming or real success for a while and then collapse for themselves and for those caught up in blindly following them. As Wayne Dyer said, Authentic freedom cannot be experienced until one learns to tame the ego and move out of self-absorption . In his wonderful book, Pit Bull , Marty Schwartz tells several stories of the times he lost money because his ego got in the way.
Trading is a psychological game.
Most people think that they're playing against the market, but the market doesn't care. You're really playing against yourself. You have to stop trying to will things to happen in order to prove that you're right. Listen only to what the market is telling you now. Forget what you thought it was telling you five minutes ago.