He then began trading with even higher leverage, which resulted in the near-total loss of his entire portfolio. Now, he is left with only $21,800—an amount even less than his initial capital.
Two demons I've seen in trading are Greed and Lack of Money/Risk Management. If any trader is able to control those two, whether they're winning or losing trades, those around them won't even notice it. Until we come to that level, we will continually be under the control of our emotions. The market doesn't tolerate that. How can someone achieve such an enviable feat of flipping $56,000 to $12.25 million in just four months and still didn't cash out. It's crazy.
This is precisely why, in futures trading, no matter how large your starting capital may be, you will eventually end up bankrupt.
I don't believe that to be true for traders who truly know what they're doing. The problem is that a lot of traders don't take profit on time or cut their losses short until they're engulfed by that. Again, consistency when it comes to risk management should be maintained, no matter how big one's capital grows.