Market crash: 'I lost Rs 1 lakh in 60 seconds'

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I am a software professional with dreams and ambitions to make it big in what ever I do, be it my job or any other activities that I undertake.

I am a semi-active player in the stock market, too; my major area of activity was margin calls (for those who don't know it means to invest some money with the broker or and trade for an amount which is n times the deposited amount) and delivery.

For instance, If I pay Rs 10,000 as margin to my broker, he allows me to trade for an amount, say four times the money I have deposited, that is Rs 40,000.

I never used to encash the profits in margin calls, but would retain the profit in terms of stocks (bought 500 shares of company X @ Rs 100 = Rs 50,000; on the square off day if the rate is say 125, I would sell of only 400 shares so as to pay up the broker and would happily keep the remaining 100 shares as profit).

I did well on my job initially; I started with a capital of Rs 30,000 and after couple of months I added Rs 20,000 to that; that was the last time I transferred amount to my broker.

One of my wise decisions was to buy RNRL at Rs 40 keeping it for long; when it was at Rs 159 I bought another set of 200 shares.

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RNRL went up to Rs 245 in the regular market and was happy to see my investment tripled in just 8 months. I was simply amazed by the performance of RNRL and the profits I made from it.

In the mean time I used to trade in other shares like Ispat, NTPC, PFC, IDBI, DCW, Supreme Petroleum etc.

Some companies gave me good returns and some gave me huge blows. The bottom line: end of the season after trading for a value of almost Rs 17,00,000 and paying a brokerage of almost Rs 14,000-17,000 I made profits of only Rs 10,000.

In the second week of January I had a considerably big capital loss.

I believed in my friend's tip for investing in shares of a bank. I bought the shares when it was in the Rs 175-185 range and the tip was it will hit a price target of Rs 230-240 in a period of 30 days.

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I never traded in bank stocks, but somehow my homework indicated that all the banks were doing well for quite some time then. So I invested in it. With In a week's time the share prices dropped by Rs 12-14 and my kitty was shrunk by another Rs 15,000.

To, mitigate this loss; I relied upon my most trusted stock (I still trust it and believe that it will do well). I bought another 2,000 shares of RNRL at Rs 215 on last trading day of second week of January with the hope that a rise of Rs 10- 15 per share will help me cover my short-term losses. I had just 25 per cent of that amount in my broker's account so I owed him about Rs 4.3 lakhs.

For a couple of days it was doing good but when the international market fall started I was helpless; just followed the wait and watch principle. On one single day (January 21 to be precise) I saw the profits that I had earned in the last six months evaporating quickly; the next day it was the turn of my capital and by noon that day my capital was fully gone. Now, I was in debit balance of about Rs 20,000.

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On January 22, the scariest day of my trading experience, I was hoping that the market will recover and I will at least get my capital back.

In the very first minutes of trading, the stock price of RNRL had fallen by another Rs 30-35. Oh my good, I lost one lakh rupees in a minute. Gone in sixty seconds! I was in tears. I could not console myself.

After discussing the matter with my friends and parents I finally decided that taking the delivery of those stocks and retaining them for 3-6 months was the best option. I may be able to cover the losses, I thought if the markets recover in another couple of months.

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I had to count on my trusted friends and well wishers, who helped arrange the funds in a notice of just four hours. Thanks guys, I owe you all big time!

Having said all that, I want to say something to traders like me, who can neither time the market nor have trusted contacts in the market to guide them.

~ Always keep your portfolio diversified in terms of sectors/companies

~ Don't let any stock to make up more than 15-20 percent of your portfolio

~ Don't get into margin trading, if you cannot predict the market behavior. It's a very lucrative opportunity. But it is a very dangerous game. No one can predict when it will rip you off your holdings.

~ The funds you invest in markets should be a part of the residual amount of your income after you meet all your expenses. So that you can hold on patiently at times like this when the market conditions are not good.