Online trading - My short position got crushed

His name is Joe Campbell, and he claims he went to bed Wednesday evening with some $37,000 in his trading account at E-Trade. One notable development on the pharma front later, and Campbell woke up to a debt of $106,445.56. Now, he may end up liquidating his 401(k). And his wife’s.

That’s where you come in. At least where Campbell desperately hopes you come in. Of course, sympathy in the trading community over such gaffes is typically in short supply.

His is a cautionary tale of getting caught on the wrong side of one of the riskier bets on Wall Street. When you’re long, the worst you can do is lose is everything. But when you’re short, everything and a lot more is at stake. He should have known better, no doubt, but you have to feel for this poor guy.


This is what apparently happened, as Joe explains in his GoFundMe plea.

“I was holding KBIO short overnight for what I thought was a nice $2.00 fade coming,” he wrote. “At the close of the bell I saw the quote montage clear out and figured today there was no action after hours in the stock. So I went to my office for a long meeting. I got out of the meeting and saw a message from one of my buddy’s, he asked if I was ok since I was short KBIO.”

OK he was not. Far from it.

KaloBios KBIO, +496.14%  stock had exploded, running up about 800% at one point in late trading after Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli (yes, THAT Shkreli) gained control of a majority of the shares. KaloBios had announced last week that it was winding down operations because it was running out of cash while developing two potential cancer drugs.

This is what a true trading nightmare looks like:

So now Campbell is coming to the community for some help. Good luck.

“If you don’t want to donate I understand, at least read my story of what happened today and protect yourself from the same happening to you!” he wrote. “This is a terrible lesson for me but if this helps just one person than I’m happy I wrote this.”

As you might expect, Campbell took a beating in the comments section.

Let him go to the wall. No man should be caught short like that. When you gamble you have to accept that you might one day lose the shirt off your back. That day has come for him, so he has to face the consequences. It's not a hard luck story. It's a recklessness that went terribly wrong.

take the licks , bro ....

nexx time carry your cell phone screen of your stock  into the meeting !

he doh know how to bet at Casino eh.  I can gih him lessons ::LOL:: ::LOL:: ::LOL::

Ah, good old "traders". The glorified gambling addicts in suits. I don't get it, even the "best" with analysis etc. lose a lot.

greed and fear as caution informing a nickle and dime approach is the way to win up in there.  you have to nickle and dime them to death on an extreme safety margin..quick profit and out..quick profit and out.  cash out when ahead every time regardless of the pots of gold that may loom ahead

nickle and dime dem to death.  that is how I play at Casinos.  if there is no profit I quit at minimum loss.  and in profit I always cash out and go home.  if my limit is twenty dollars I cant lose more than five..and in profit I am always cashing out above what I put in.  if I put in 20$ and I am five dollars ahead I take that out..and as profit occurs I cash it out.

I leave my 20$ working but if it dives to 5% loss I cut and run..come back another luckier day. 

I cant lose big and I am mostly in profit.  If I go 5 times I win 3-4 times..that is I end up with more than I put out.  I am in profit.  they will have to tweak their machines again to get it back :-[ :-[ :-[ :-[

and I have hit a jackpot once..and several times big lines. ::LOL:: ::LOL:: ::LOL::

trading can be much bigger money but I suspect the principle can be the same.  man must tread a safety margin at all times especially if exposure can be great.  you have to reel in small margins which can be substantial if the bet is big...and get to safety.  that's it..nickle and dime then to death.

but I would not risk big money trading. nonsense. if I have it already what am I risking it for..more ::confused::

nonsense!  if I have big money already I will make more anyway, in very safe ways.  if man is financially good, secure enough, phuck trading.  you go to trading if you have none and you wish to take big risks to get some.  like the rappers say..get rich or die trying. but if you get rich then you don't need to keep trying.