Part 3: Why August Was The Worst Trading Month Of My Life

Frustrated? Yes! Disgusted? Absolutely! In denial? Perhaps just a bit.

I had looked at the chart of the SPY, SDS, SSO, UPRO, the stars in the sky, and glued to the news for political developments over seas. The market was getting ready to close on Friday, and it had undoubtedly been a long week, with the Euro crisis and the debt ceiling saga. The only thing that probably made me more irate than those calls in my portfolio was the idiocy in both parties up in D.C. debating how to drive our country more into debt. 

The bell rings and I can get some relaxation in for the next few hours, but then all of a sudden, I see on the television in my office that the S&P had downgraded the U.S.

I can't say I was honestly expecting it - the other rating agencies had announced earlier in the week that no downgrade was coming, so I just assumed the same would be said of the Moody's. At this point, I knew I might be in a heap of trouble with those calls, but I did some research that countries like Ireland, Japan, and others had actually rallied after their downgrade surprisingly, and who knows, maybe it will be one of those "sell the rumor, buy the news effects".

Once 6pm Sunday night rolled around, t stung seeing the S&P open 20+ points lower. 

But that was nothing compared to what would follow the next morning on August 8th... PURE CARNAGE!

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