myself with a edge derived from perry kaufmans book smarter trading in early 2000, with the help of a order entry expert using member clearing rates at the cme. made 5mm in two days of trading a few hours each day off es. we were trading up to 1500 contracts, i retired and spent about the next 10 years spending my half. m
ps i actually think without doubt the markets are better now than ever, i say thank god for hft - opportunities abound, rates are lower, liquidity is better, human nature has not changed. i am definitely excited to get back up to speed. i was stupid i gave away many edges and saw them all destroyed, if you get one keep it to yourself and just use it.
Thanks for this; nice to see a positive post about the possibilities of trading. In most fields it is usually accepted wisdom that things were always easier in some long gone golden age. I'm not sure I believe it though. I think it has always been quite hard to make money/buy a house/become a pop star, and now is not that much different.