Their risks are managed at the Mandelbrot Set level. Nothing special. It is like magic. If it is revealed, you would realize how simple (not easy) and ugly it is. They are not mythical at all.
How Common Are Really Large Successful Traders
- Thread starter Fundlord
- Start date
Those types of guys are not retail traders. I saw a few documentaries several years ago about traders on their own (trading their own account) and they had professional credentials along with being identified by their brokers and exchange as pro traders.
In addition, the documentary showed two guys in their home office...they had employees even though the trader trades his owned account (not for others). There was another guy in the documentary and he didn't trade from home...he actually was leasing an office space. He too had employees (e.g secretary, account manager and I think a part-time computer guy that maintained his office network)...he was a former hedge fund manager.
Once again, these are not retail traders even though they are trading their own accounts.
In addition, the documentary showed two guys in their home office...they had employees even though the trader trades his owned account (not for others). There was another guy in the documentary and he didn't trade from home...he actually was leasing an office space. He too had employees (e.g secretary, account manager and I think a part-time computer guy that maintained his office network)...he was a former hedge fund manager.
Once again, these are not retail traders even though they are trading their own accounts.
Retails advantage is, we are small, we can get in and out without affecting the market, start talking 1000nd+ contracts and you'll move the market, it'll take time to get all of those positions bought and closed, you'll lose the 1 advantage we've got.
I've only seen 2 people with 100K+ accounts in all my years and both of them lost it quicker than you can imagine.
I've only seen 2 people with 100K+ accounts in all my years and both of them lost it quicker than you can imagine.
Aside from the lack of largely successful retail traders there are even fewer retail traders who trade for a living as their sole source of income. There are even fewer retail traders who trade for their sole source of income for multiple decades, I think that would require starting or accumulated risk capital of over $1,000,000.
If they want to. They never attempt to. They are fine with their goals and are very consistent. Greed is bad.
I've seen one example of a retail trader who made about $500K by buying stocks at the 2008 bottom. The funny thing about it was that not only did he not have an internet connection, he didn't even own a computer. He was an old retired guy who watched the CNBC ticker on his television screen.
His first buy was Ford in 2009, and he held it for about three weeks and made a gross $52K profit on it.
Later in 2011 he bought Bank of America a few weeks before it bottomed, and I remember panicking on his behalf because he bought $400K worth of the stock, which was most of his life savings. Also during this time, he had purchased Alcoa stock which wasn't doing much in price appreciation, but he was getting dividends from it.
When he became sick and was in the hospital, I was setting up an apartment for him in an assisted living center. When I was getting his stuff out of his apartment for the move, I found all of these scraps of paper on his coffee table where he had been writing down stock prices from the ticker on the television.
The sad part of it was that he died in July of 2012 and never got to see his beloved Bank of America stock go to 18. His daughter inherited it and by that time the account was worth over a million.
So that's my offer to the discussion of retail traders making it in the market. I know it isn't much, but it's what I witnessed first hand. You could call it dumb luck, and I wouldn't really argue with you, but he was basically a value investor, buying stocks that he thought had been priced too low during a financial panic.
ETA: I forgot to mention that he also bought Fannie Mae stock which I think eventually became worthless. It wasn't much, something like $1000 worth of stock when it was only worth pennies.
His first buy was Ford in 2009, and he held it for about three weeks and made a gross $52K profit on it.
Later in 2011 he bought Bank of America a few weeks before it bottomed, and I remember panicking on his behalf because he bought $400K worth of the stock, which was most of his life savings. Also during this time, he had purchased Alcoa stock which wasn't doing much in price appreciation, but he was getting dividends from it.
When he became sick and was in the hospital, I was setting up an apartment for him in an assisted living center. When I was getting his stuff out of his apartment for the move, I found all of these scraps of paper on his coffee table where he had been writing down stock prices from the ticker on the television.
The sad part of it was that he died in July of 2012 and never got to see his beloved Bank of America stock go to 18. His daughter inherited it and by that time the account was worth over a million.
So that's my offer to the discussion of retail traders making it in the market. I know it isn't much, but it's what I witnessed first hand. You could call it dumb luck, and I wouldn't really argue with you, but he was basically a value investor, buying stocks that he thought had been priced too low during a financial panic.
ETA: I forgot to mention that he also bought Fannie Mae stock which I think eventually became worthless. It wasn't much, something like $1000 worth of stock when it was only worth pennies.
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How Common Are Really Large Successful Traders"
Well, obviously it's rare -- but that's not to say it certainly doesn't exists.
you just need to trade the right leveraged options...in a big liquid market...and execute well -- with compounding...it's explosive.
...But those rare numbers/examples baffle me. -- i'm a very modest person...I only need to grow/trade my account to a certain extent, then after that play it safe and live off interests and diversification and just invest sleepily for the long haul.
Well, obviously it's rare -- but that's not to say it certainly doesn't exists.
you just need to trade the right leveraged options...in a big liquid market...and execute well -- with compounding...it's explosive....But those rare numbers/examples baffle me. -- i'm a very modest person...I only need to grow/trade my account to a certain extent, then after that play it safe and live off interests and diversification and just invest sleepily for the long haul.
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It is a fantasy thread. There are no borders between institutional, professional or retail pachinko. Anybody can make a gazillion dollars.
Fundlord: I am cutting you off from "why is the sky blue questions". Tomorrow, I want a book report on a piece of news and some market prognostications.
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