Do you compare your trading results to just buying and holding the S&P500? Why or Why Not?

I see you're quite new and you have a lot of questions. No need to open a new thread for each one, though.
OP is lazy and wants others to put in the effort to supply answers.
If you're going to contemplate trading/investing, your own legwork will produce better results than continually leaning on others for a feed.
 
Any trader with less than $10 million, should be able to beat that risk profile easily.

eg. 20% a year with max 20% drawdowns. Sharpe ratio over 1.
Key word here is should. keep in mind trading has a 95% failure rate.
 
Traders are looking for a niche to exploit and their strategies do not scale. E.g. you can easily turn 10k into 20k within a year, but the strategy is only good for 20k/year, even if you throw 1m at it.

What kind of strategy is only good for $20k/year?

Normally it is the trader who is only good for $20K, because they are too fearful of trading size.
 
ever tried to arb nano cap dual listings?

Why trade that lightweight stuff when you can trade over $1million notional in NQ with just $10,000 down.

Answer is obviously that there is a bigger edge.

But if you were trading that, i would hope you could find multiple listings.
 
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Key word here is should. keep in mind trading has a 95% failure rate.

If traders actually aimed for 'just' 20% on whatever paltry amount they have then the failure rate would be lower. But your typical trader is aiming for 200% a year (or more likely 1000%). That is the one of main reasons the failure rate is so high.
 
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If traders actually aimed for 'just' 20% on whatever paltry amount they have then the failure rate would be lower. But your typical trader is aiming for 200% a year (or more likely 1000%). That is the one of main reasons the failure rate is so high.
I'm quite happy with a paltry 20%. I'm well capitalized and taking a paltry 20% is how I got there.
High on my list of why traders fail is unrealistic expectations.
 
I'm quite happy with a paltry 20%. I'm well capitalized and taking a paltry 20% is how I got there.
High on my list of why traders fail is unrealistic expectations.
what type of trader are you?

High level can you describe your strategy/strategies? (i.e. equities, futures, mean reversion, etc.)
 
what type of trader are you?

High level can you describe your strategy/strategies? (i.e. equities, futures, mean reversion, etc.)
I trade equities. The strategy is simple, I buy stocks that are going up and hold them until they stop going up. I cut losses very quickly and don't hold losers in my portfolio.
 
I trade equities. The strategy is simple, I buy stocks that are going up and hold them until they stop going up. I cut losses very quickly and don't hold losers in my portfolio.

Some of the most vocal, confidant guys on here are likely mediocre to horrible traders. Those of us who have been around the block long enough can sniff out most of the legit guys versus the bs. The clues are there anyways; guys who talk about consistent high performance aren't realistic about trading and are either full of it or haven't traded long enough or hard enough to know. Those who deliver food or train traders full time they aren't meaningful successful traders. Those who make horrible calls about markets repetitively the same. Newer traders really need to beware of these characters listening to them leads to bad habits.

You are legit. I may not agree 100% with your approach but many trading styles work. Specifically the tight stop losses wouldn't work in commodity stocks imo.
 
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