What's the largest loss you've ever taken? (stock, buy, sell)

[AmFest]

Originally Posted by Lowexpectations

Almost a mil loss mind you

Since he lost almost a million, I assume he had more than a million to start.

[TheKingOfEquity]

Originally Posted by AmFest

Since he lost almost a million, I assume he had more than a million to start.

Don't assume for sure...the glories of margin and leverage

[AmFest]

Originally Posted by TheKingOfEquity

Don't assume for sure...the glories of margin and leverage

To trade on margin, you have to have positive equity.

[ameridreamNoT]

yes, I had more than a mil at the time...

[txfriend]

Yes the good old days. My largest one day loss was $104K and my largest one day gain was $102K. My largest loss during the dot com bust was over one million. Must say I recovered nicely.

[Garthur]

My largest 1 day loss was about $25,000, not a big deal when you know that I avoided a one day loss of about $300,000 by selling the week before. 15 years later that stock has never come back and it would have been a permanent loss.

[davebarnes]

100%
Twice
Both companies did the BK

[MountainBiking]

The largest one day loss I have experienced was around $3,000. I lost it on Blackberry on the day they did an earnings call a couple years ago. The stock plummeted fast. I knew the quarter was going to be lackluster but not that bad. I kept my position with Blackberry for a few more weeks and then sold with a loss. I didn't believe in the company anymore and their problems were worse than I expected. I had traded RIMM/Blackberry before holding long and losing the $3000. With the trading activity and the one day loss I still earned right around $400 in total on RIMM/Blackberry. When I sold my long Blackberry position I invested the money in other companies and made my money back- and then some- in about 3 to 4 months. Two years later Blackberry is still stuck in mud and can't get over the $10 mark.

[cowdog]

Originally Posted by MJ7

Whatever you invest in (options, index, forex, c. stocks, mutual, futures, etc.) what is the largest loss you've taken?

I've heard of people losing about a million, but of course, that was novice risk management in play.

I invested in a wife once, I lost everything.

[CaptainNJ]

as I accumulate more money, my biggest losses and gains keep happening. I generally move with the market so my biggers loss/gain wouldn't be much more than whatever the market did on that day.