Quote from SethArb:
"In 2001 I earned 7 figures, in 2002 I earned over $700,000."
I respect you right to privacy on this ... but since you made it a point to give us an idea of how well you are doing position
trading ... would you mind posting in % terms what that return
was YTD in 2001 and 2002 on your portfolio ?
IF your portfolio size is 10 million ...then I do not think those returns are so fantastic . although they are quite respectable given the current market conditions ...
all the best to you in 2003
In 2001 I earned 1.7M on an account that started with $125,000 but I added an additional $175,000 (March '01) to bring my account up to $300,000. I keep $300,000 total with several brokers. I have my account swept every Friday and have any additional funds wired to my checking account. If I am below $300,000 then zero is transferred
About 80% of my trades since Nov 1999 have been (SHORT) mostly Position trades from 3 days to 3 months. My big winners have been NXTL, DCEL, MSFT, PALM, ORCL, SPTN, etc...
2001 I think I had NO losers (LOL) compared to 2002. This year has been much harder, seems as though stocks have bottomed out (not good for shorting)

In the last 6 weeks I have made Nothing, I basically quit trading about 3 weeks ago. I still monitor the markets intraday, but not much activity for my type of trading.
I am thinking about SHORTING 10,000-20,000sh of PALM, they just had a 20-1 reverse stock split to avoid being delisted, this company I feel will be bancrupt or bought out in 3 years. By reversing their stock price it gave Shortsellers a new chance to short the stock, LOL, bunch of idiots.
I think the market is headed much lower for 2003, much lower 6000-7000 Dow, NASDAQ 700 :eek: Although I try to not get too opinionated as this usually will cost me money, but by being short the last 2 years in a BAD market has made me good money
For 2003 I am entering the market very cautiously, I would rather be Short than Long. IMHO the bigger $$$ is made position trading. I was working the floor of the CME and the CBOT in the late 70's, we had NO comptuters :eek: There was no such thing as Daytrading unless you worked in the pits. Daytrading really didn't start until 5-7 years ago. Actually I am glad I learned how to position trade FIRST. I feel sorry for the NEWBIES who don't look to position trade to make $$$, I think every trader should have some position trades at all times.
For 2002 I have started trading the e-minis, have done fairly well, I keep most positions overnight also. I like trading the markets electronically, DAT, GLOBEX, etc... I hate the Middleman

I try and trade electronically (direct access) as much as possible. I use Limit orders 99% of the time, and I place trailing stops ASAP.
I have to make a lot of money, my toys are way too expensive.
Hope this helps
Good Luck in '03.