This is not just the fine print on every trading rag. People really lose their shirts trading index futures. There was a guy in the news a couple of years ago in Atlanta that was so upset after he blew his life savings daytrading that he got a gun and blew a bunch of people away at his broker's office. He's probably rotting in jail right now. How's that for risk? "It won't happen to me," you say? We've all heard the statistics that 85% or 90% of traders lose money. Usually you have to try it in order to discover all the obstacles that make it hard not to lose money trading, much less make money. Even the few successful traders will usually tell you some horror stories about their early years, like Mark Cook, for example, who, after building his account up to $50,000, in one bad day wound up $350,000 in the hole! Yes, you can lose much more than what's in your account, especially if you just read some get-rich-quick hype and opened your first account. Many of the successful traders say that going broke was an essential part of their education, but I don't think Ken Roberts, Jake Bernstein, Wade cook, or any other get-rich-quick guru is likely to tell you so. Me, I'm one of the lucky ones. I didn't have very much money the first two times I went broke trading. After going back to work for a few years, I'm back. This time, "It won't happen to me." If you're enough of a knuckle-head to still want to be a trader after reading this, at least read the right books first, and get some education.