Special Feature
(2) Stubborness An unwillingness to accept that I was wrong has been a major undo-er of me on 2 occasions now. The first instance was in 1999 (and so should arguably be lumped with the learning the ropes issue) when the US technology boom was in full swing. As a Yorkshireman, I am loathe to overpay for anything and so I felt that the US tech market (Nasdaq) was way overvalued and due a fall. Trouble was, I shorted the market at 2800 in September 1999 and to my absolute horror it continued to rise inexorably day after day, taking my hard earned cash with it. To add fuel to the fire that was burning in my pocket, I continued to add to the position as the market ploughed ever onwards as I simply could not believe the valuations.
NASDAQ COMPOSITE CHART
10 www.financial-spread-betting.com | July 2012
Finally, the pain was too much too bear as I continually funded margin call after margin call and my pockets were threadbare. I was eventually closed around 3300. This, painful as it was, turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the market continued on to ultimately peak at just under 5000 in April of 2000 as the chart below illustrates.