taken from Hardwarezone forum
see this pathetic story
EVERYTHING BOMBED
In just 2 days, mr chan chalked up a few hundred thousand dollars
in losses when The Straits Times Index dived by 75.9 pts on 27 feb
and another 127.87 pts (the steepest dive in 20 yrs) on feb
28.
he said, "everything bombed in just 48 hours. my life, my future...
and now, even my parents could lose their home."
in three short months of trading, mr chan has lost abt 700k.
Although the mkt has regained some of its earlier losses this week,
the recovery means little to him.
mr chan dabbling in high-risk contra trading, where you buy and
sell the same shares within three days, putting up no money and
earning the profits when shre prcies go up. but investors can lose
money when the stock mkt is having a downturn and they will have to
pay the losses to their stockbrokers within days.
mr chan bought heavily into popular counters such as dbs, uob
capitaland and even china stocks such as longcheer holdings, and
hoped to sell them for a gain before the usual deadline. but as the
mkt dipped suddenly and he could not afford to pay and keep all the
shares, he had to makeup for all the losses he incurred during his
trading period."
Even after exhuasting his previous winnings, his father's savings
and loans from friends, he still owes two of his remisers more than
200k. To add to his woes, his gf of 8 yrs has also walked out on
him, disappointed by how his gambling had cost him dearly.
most of his friends are also avoiding his calls or finding excuses
not to meet him. Word has gone around that he is desperate for
money bec he as already borrowed some 70 k from 20 of his friends.
mr chan said,"no one can blame them for avoiding me. thankfully, i
still have my parents on my side, otherwise i'd probably have gone
insane."
to help him , his father is prepared to move to a smaller home if
needed,. while the family is scambling to raise the money to clear
the debt, mr chan admitted he had entertained thoughts of filing
for bankruptcy.
he said:" i was told if i did that, it'd be tough for me to find a
decent job."
during the interview with the new paper on sunday, mr chan became
rather agitated and restless when he related his problems."look,
it's fine if it's just me, but i've got to think of my parents," he
said.
this is a far cry from october last yera when he was preparing for
his final-year examination in Perth. at a group study sessin, one
of his singaporean classmates checked on his own trading account
and shouted happily when he made a few thousand dollars.
mr chan recalled:" i was hooked form the minute he started talking
about how easy it was to make a profit. he encouraged me to do
likewise and even suggested that i start off with contra trading
since i didn't have much cash."
mr chan then contacted a cousin, who had an online trading acct in
singapore and asked him to buy som shares he selected. he said:" i
made 23k by the end of the first week and my friends started
calling me Prince Midas.
"i guess i sort of got carried away when i made another killingof
abt 30k. i got bolder and by the time i stopped because of exams, i
was richer by 80k."
mr chan returned to sinagpore in early december after his
examinations and shared the news with his father and 58 yr old
mother. they were impressed with his "windfall"
still, he insisted that it was not the "easy cash" but boredom that
got him trading again. he said:" i wanted to take a break for a
couple of months before looking for a job, so i was idling during
the day when my parents and my gf had to work.
"i was surfing the internet when i decided to checkout the sgx
homepage. i randomly picked a few companies and the chart pattern i
saw was definately encouraging."
he started to monitor the shares, and role-played as if he had
bought heavily into them. when the sti closed on the first day, he
had made an imaginery $100k; on the second day, it was another 110k
"win"
"I was like geez! if only i had dealt in real money. then it
occurred to me, maybe this is my calling. If i were good, I could
afford to let my parents retire comfortably, have a lavish wedding
and upgrade my honda civic."
over dinner that night, mr chan shared his plan with his parents
and asked them if they would like to pool in their money. he
said:"my father told me, no risk, no gain." two days later, the
senior mr chan transferred 300k his whole life savings to his son's
bank acct.
flushed with cash, mr chan was able to open trading accounts with
three stockbroking firms. he was so focused on his new
"responsibility" that he "ate, slept and breathed stocks". from
analysing companies chart patterns to buyign stocks after a fall,
mr chan traded shares of up to six companies at one go. "i thought
i was so smart to diversify... you know what they say, never put
all your eggs into one basket," he ssaid.
but when he registered the first negative return, mr chan "freaked
out". "i felt it should not have happended because people were
making money." The 28k loss was just the begining of his nightmare.
he said:"i lost control. i could not afford to lose the money. my
family does not belong to the high-income strata."
his confidence level dipped further when he kept picking "the bad
eggs." as his stokcs dipped further, he started to panic and began
to ask his friends for loans.
To help him, his gf applied for 4 bank overdraft facilities and
even maxed the limit on five credit cars. she was the only one who
knew the true extent of his losses. Mr chan said," I couldnt tell
my parents. My gf was there for me until she could not take it
anymore." He covered his face for some seconds and said quietly:
"I've let her down. Really."
in his bid to win his gf and his money back, mr chan said he
stopped trading for about two weeks, but continues to monitor the
cahrts.
hoping to recover some of his earlier losses, he set his sight on
the stocks of nine companies when the mkt re-opened after the
chinese new year. but mr chan ended up suffering 100k in paper
losses and 220 in contra trading.
he said"i went in for the kill. only to find i could barely stay
alive less than five trading days later. my loved ones may now have
to 'die together' with me."
he added,"i don't know if i have the money to return to the uni for
my convocation end of this mth,. i can't bring myself to think of
what happens next."
To help him , his father is prepared to move to a smaller home if
needed,. while the family is scambling to raise the money to clear
the debt, mr chan admitted he had entertained thoughts of filing
for bankruptcy.
he said:" i was told if i did that, it'd be tough for me to find a
decent job."
during the interview with the new paper on sunday, mr chan became
rather agitated and restless when he related his problems."look,
it's fine if it's just me, but i've got to think of my parents," he
said.
