Prominent trader Eugene Ng Ah Sio, known for his astute market calls, recently revealed a significant $6.2 million loss on a Solana (SOL) trade, marking the largest single loss in his trading account’s history. In a candid trading summary, Ng Ah Sio detailed the series of decisions that led to the substantial setback, offering valuable insights into the psychological pitfalls that can snare even seasoned investors.
Ng Ah Sio’s SOL saga began after a successful Bitcoin (BTC) trade, where he capitalized on a price appreciation from $102,000 to $107,000. Confident from this victory, he shifted his profits into SOL and related ecosystem tokens, including Wrapped Filecoin (WIF) and Bonk (BONK), at prices of $220, $2.75, and $0.037, respectively. He cited strong short-term performance and previous successes as justification for the move.
However, as the BTC market reversed course around $108,000, Ng Ah Sio began to see weakness in his altcoin positions. While he wisely cut losses on underperforming meme coins, he doubled down on his SOL position, increasing it from $20 million to $30 million – the first in a series of missteps.
Ng Ah Sio acknowledges his first mistake as a failure to adhere to his usual disciplined approach to stop-losses. Despite anticipating market volatility around the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, he held onto his SOL position as it dipped to $215, clinging to the hope that the $200 mark would hold as support. Instead of cutting losses, he further increased his position to $45 million when SOL reached the $200 support level, arguing that the long-term risk-reward ratio was favorable.
The situation deteriorated further as SOL broke below the $200 support. Ng Ah Sio admits to experiencing “hopium,” clinging to the irrational hope of a price rebound. Instead of exiting the position, he leveraged further, increasing his exposure to nearly $60 million and bringing his total account leverage to a precarious 1.2x.
Ultimately, facing an unrealized loss of $7-8 million, Ng Ah Sio recognized the gravity of the situation and cut his losses, closing 70% of his SOL position at $193. This decisive action, though painful, freed up capital, allowing him to capitalize on the subsequent market dip and re-enter positions in Ethereum (ETH), ENA, PEPE, and WIF at advantageous prices. Through a series of 13 successful trades, he has since recouped a significant portion of his initial loss.
Ng Ah Sio concludes his reflection by emphasizing the dangers of the “sunk cost mentality” and the importance of maintaining discipline even amidst significant losses.
