Quote from Leisure:
15% of what? You have to be very specific when you talk about returns, or you'd be comparing apples to oranges.
I'm a day trader that makes a very comfortable living. My cap at risk is only $5k. So I can say my annual return is well over 2,000%. Now let's talk about return in absolute dollar amount, it's only in the $100k and $200K range. And my return is not scalable, meaning whether with $5k or $5Mil, my absolute return in dollar amount stays in the $100k and $200K because of my trading style (rapid fire day trading). Now comes along a trader who can make 15% of everything you give to him. He's much less of a trader than me when his risk capital is less a $1 million, whether you measure returns in percentage or dollar amount. Nonetheless, once his risk capital rises above $1.5 million, he beats me handsomely. He is the big swinging D*** everyone looks up to.
Trading is never easy but it IS easier to make big percentage returns with little money consistently than to make respectable percentage returns with big money. But I'd rather be the guy who can make 10% returns with $10 Billion than a daytrader who makes 10,000% with $30K.
Regarding predicting the market, I do agree with some of the previous posts, only partially though. When you daytrade (or any short term trading style) , it's easy to react to than predict the market and make a nice profit consistently. That's what I and a lot of successful daytraders do. But we are small fries who don't and can't move the market. Big money managers have to somehow predict market moves simply because one simply can't move tens of millions or more in and out of the market and not cause and adverse market reactions. But we do have to admit that only a handful fund managers/traders can consistently make a decent profit. Most fund managers are scammers who don't know shit and simply make a good living off management fees off investors who are too dumb or lazy to invest themselves.
