Personally I wiped out 3 lots of $25k (each time that was my...

Personally I wiped out 3 lots of $25k (each time that was my entire net worth) in my first 5 years of 'trading and investing).

Actually it was more than my net worth on each occaision, as most of the lots of $25k were borrowed. Had $28k on credit cards that I was doing well with during the boom up until the GFC, writing bull put spreads.

Lost the lot when OZL, LHG et al came down with everything else

Now I mainly trade small caps and their options, don't use stop losses and I average down all the time.

I try to only trade stocks that I think are fundamentally good value at my purchase price, and if I can't get out within a few days I hold and average down until the next spike.

Works for me.