Often, the best way to learn is from what you’ve done wrong. Believe me, I know it.
I also know that some of you are sitting on a loss right now, or about to make a mistake I’ve already made.
I want to tell you about the worst two weeks of my trading career.
Because what happened during those two weeks taught me more than any winning trade ever has.
I messed up, so you don’t have to…
If you’re really serious about your trading, listen carefully to what I’m about to tell you.
The Setup
It was 2018. I was starting to find my footing.
I’d saved up, grinded through the early struggles, and finally built my account up to $30,000.
Thirty grand felt like a fortune at the time. It represented months of valet shifts, side hustles, and grinding through a learning curve that had chewed me up more times than I want to admit.
I was feeling good. Maybe too good.
I’d been watching the short sellers in my mentor Tim Sykes’ community making serious money on the downside. And I thought I understood what they were doing. I’d watched the trades. I’d studied the patterns. I told myself I was ready.
I wasn’t.
Trade One: Turtle Beach
Turtle Beach (NASDAQ: TBCH) was my first big short.
I saw what looked like a textbook overextended setup. The stock had run hard, and I was convinced it had to come back down.
So I shorted it…
And it went against me.
Not by a little. By a lot.
Down 500 bucks. Then 700.
Then I did something that any experienced trader will tell you never to do. I added to the position. Brought my cost average up. Told myself it would turn around. Added again. And again.
By the time the stock hit $19, I was staring at a $12,000 loss. I physically left the room. I was sick to my stomach.
I genuinely thought it was over, that I’d lose everything I had worked for.
Eventually, I got out for a $7,500 loss.
And guess what I did…
I went straight to my computer and made a video lesson about it. Full transparency. Every mistake, right there on camera.
Because that’s who I am, not because I’m some kind of saint. But I don’t hide from losses. I dissect them. Everyone should do it.
The lesson from Turtle Beach wasn’t complicated. I broke the most basic rule in trading. I didn’t cut my losses quickly. I let ego take control instead of discipline.
But it wasn’t over…
Trade Two: CVSI
You’d think after Turtle Beach I would have stepped back, taken a breath, and regrouped.
Nope.
Instead, I revenge traded.
I saw CV Sciences (OTC: QB CVSI) gapping down, and I recognized a pattern I’d traded before, a former runner on the front side.
I went all in right at the open…
And it squeezed immediately. I froze. Couldn’t get out where I wanted to. By the time I exited, I’d dropped another four thousand dollars.
Two trades. Two weeks. I’d gone from $30,000 to roughly $21,000. A third of my account was now gone.
What It Actually Cost Me
Those two trades cost me so much, beyond the dollars.
They cost me months of momentum. They cost me confidence at a moment when I was just starting to build it. And they nearly cost me the belief that I could actually do this.
I ended up selling my quad, my most prized possession, just to get money back into my account.
I stopped trading for two months. I went back to my old valet job. Back to basics.
As crazy as it sounds, there’s a positive side to hitting rock bottom in this game. If you’re the right kind of trader, the kind who studies your losses instead of hides, you come back stronger.
And I did.
What I learned from those two trades became the foundation for everything that came after.
Cut losses fast. Never add to a loser. Don’t let a bad trade turn into a crusade.
And never, ever, revenge trade.
Short selling isn’t the problem. Undisciplined short selling is the problem.
There’s a massive difference between a well-timed short with a defined risk and what I was doing, which was holding through pain and hoping the market would bail me out.
The market doesn’t save anyone. It doesn’t care.
You bail yourself out, by cutting quickly, accepting the loss, and coming back with a clear head the next day.
I went from $30,000 to $7,500 in two trades.
And it was the best thing that ever happened to my trading career.
– Jack Kellogg
P.S. Last year I generated over $9 million in trading profits.
But right now I’m making a major change to my approach.
I’m not predicting a crash. Nothing like that.
But I am predicting a potential $8 trillion shock.
What does that mean for my trading right now?
I can tell you this… Not a single Magnificent 7 stock is flashing on my system. Not one.
What does all of this mean for your money?
