Quote from Mvic:
Happy Thanksgiving to you too!
Not sure I am deserving of your kind words as I still consider luck to have played a large part in any success that I have enjoyed trading. I can say this appropo this thread, even in my most profitable year of over 2 decades of trading I have NEVER done the % equivalent of $5K to $100K (what is that 2000%?)in one year. My very best year was a shade under 1300% and there have only been two others over 1000%, in over 20 years! Of course you also have to give consideration to the fact that I reset my account each year and trade relatively small size.
Also, I should mention that there have also been a couple of years where I ended the year with a $0 balance (which would mean I have lost $150K as after I lose my starting $100K I refund my account with $50K after a month off).
Very hard to face the fact that you actually lost money after a year of stress and hard work.
Last thing that I will say before I sign off is that I have had a spouse through out that made a very good and reliable monthly income that more than covered all living expenses so i never was trading with money we needed to live on. In retrospect that too is probably one of the things that made a huge difference to my profitability.
Quote from MackieMesser:
What rare things to see on ET, honesty and humility.
Most successful traders are not insightful or honest enough to admit the role of luck in their outcome.
m
Quote from EtfTraderLives:
"We also assume that no money is drawn out of the trading account during this time period"
LOL. Get real. Taxes alone will make your journey even longer.
Quote from Retired:
Everyone had their share of down times, myself included. However, the original question is how long will it take to turn a $5,000 account into $100,000.
My answer is you can do it within a year if you know what you're doing. However, it may take many years before you know what you're doing. For some people, it may be forever.
Quote from guy2:
Correct: I didn't mention that it was gross revenue that we were looking at during this study and that taxes would have to be paid on that. And yes you're 100% correct in saying that would make the journey longer.
You could easily work tax into the equation by adjusting the formula. In fact I think that you've come up with a good idea here and when I rework this article I will change the spreadsheet such that you can enter the rate of tax that you pay on gross profits such that you can calculate a time horizon with a target net profits based on your tax rate.
Thanks EftTraderLives.
Quote from Retired:
Everyone had their share of down times, myself included. However, the original question is how long will it take to turn a $5,000 account into $100,000.