The Reddit geek who raked in $100,000 with 2 trades is 'taking a small break'

[BlueWaterSailor]

Do you seriously think that he never traded options before and made the money purely by luck playing two different instruments?

That was the story. He supposedly learned about options by reading r/wsb; since he was doing nothing more complicated than buying puts, I see little reason to doubt it.

"Soros has tought me, noted Druckenmiller, that when you have teremedous conviction on a trade, you have to go for the jugular. It takes courage to be a pig. It takes courage to ride a profit with huge leverage. As far as Soros is concerned, when you’re right on something, you can’t own enough.

"Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi"

Comparing one of the world's sharpest investors who uses aggression as a well-considered strategy with a fool who YOLOs shit at random makes zero sense. But hey, if you believe the latter to be a reasonable approach to investing, don't let me stop you.

 

[gaussian]

Surprised this even made the news, junk food for the impulsive casino mentality types that are all about instant gratification. Growing your equity curve year over year take's a great deal of skill - a whole different world.

You don't think it could be because of all the free options trading available to Joe BurgerFlipper now...do you?

Always ask whos the man behind the man who wrote the article...this reads like a wall street shill piece. (Frankly I hope they keep doing it. The more idiots pouring money into shitty options plays means more edge for me!)

 

[qlai]

he was doing nothing more complicated than buying puts

Who said that it needs to be complicated!? You see stock go porabillic and say - hey let me put 1% of my profits on this. Hm, I just made crazy money with this, let me roll some of that into another play. You are not averaging losers, but pressing your "lucky" winning streak.

fool who YOLOs shit at random

All I'm saying is that is how he is being presented. Lots of successful people seem like morons. Why did you do it? Oh, I don't know, just felt right to me. Then you find out they have a track record of being "lucky" for 30 years. If this guy was in some prop firm, they would say - look at our top trader killing it!

But hey, if you believe the latter to be a reasonable approach to investing, don't let me stop you.

Just like you expressed in your journal, grinding is hard. So, imho, we need to (must) incorporate possibly of home runs in our overall trading plan. Doesn't mean being careless, but being opportunistic.

I'm not so much arguing with you, but rather a bit envious of this guy's ability to do what he did. Most of us would have grabbed a few thousands and ran. Something to keep in mind, I think.

 

[gaussian]

envious of this guy's ability to do what he did. Most of us would have grabbed a few thousands and ran. Something to keep in mind, I think.

You're envious of a fool. A broken clock is right twice a day. People who make these plays don't keep their money for long. Free trades are the comped drinks of the stock market.

 

[GRULSTMRNN]

It's hard to see where there were any skills involved in those 2 trades. Or the risk management that was seemingly absent but should have been there. How do those two trades not come across as being pure luck?

Do you seriously think that he never traded options before and made the money purely by luck playing two different instruments?



"Soros has tought me, noted Druckenmiller, that when you have teremedous conviction on a trade, you have to go for the jugular. It takes courage to be a pig. It takes courage to ride a profit with huge leverage. As far as Soros is concerned, when you’re right on something, you can’t own enough.
Soros argued that the way to build long-term returns was thruogh preservation of capital and home runs. You can be far more aggressive when you’re making good profits. Many managers, once they’re up 30 to 40%, will book their year (that is, trade very cautiosly for the remainder of the year) The way to attain truly superior long-term returns is to grind it out until you’re up 30 to 40 percent, and then if you have the conviction, go for a 100% year. If you can put together a few 100% years and avoid down years, then you can achieve really outstanding long-term returns."

 

[trader99]

No, the world doesn't make sense. trader99, YOU are the OP. So you are now talking about yourself from a 1st-person perspective in the 3rd-person?

OP meant @qlai not me in that sentence! LOL.

 

[notagain]

better to be lucky than good

 

[qlai]

Or the risk management that was seemingly absent but should have been there.

Common, $800 to $100k is poor risk management!?

Many top traders mention that they made their initial stake by being super aggressive but then tone it down. I'm not saying this guy is a genius(not even talking about anyone specific), but being able to go big at the right moment is a character trait which is commonly mentioned by top traders.

You might have seen me posting about Sang Lucci. I find his journey very interesting. He made most of his initial fortune on a single long options play(1.2M). Got thrown out of (or left) prop firm because they didn't like his trading style (I assume). Got turned down by hedge funds because they didn't want Cowboy trading(I assume his DD were horrendous). He opened his own fund and doing well. Few people can trade like him, but it doesn't mean he's a lucky bafoon. And of course he started to smooth out his equity curve by selling premium and hedging.

My point is simply this - if you don't incorporate possibly of hitting occasional home runs in your trading, you will most likely not survive the grind. All about fat tails. Just my opinion, fwiw.

 

[BlueWaterSailor]

Who said that it needs to be complicated!?

You did, by implication. I quote:

"Do you seriously think that he never traded options before and made the money purely by luck playing two different instruments?"

You see stock go porabillic and say - hey let me put 1% of my profits on this.

Except that's not what he did. He YOLOed, twice.

I'll echo @gaussian : you're being envious of a fool.

All I'm saying is that is how he is being presented.

So you believe the truth must be the direct opposite of what's being presented? Based on what?

I don't think I'll ever get over being amazed (and amused; I'm a bit of a snarky bastard that way) by people automatically assuming the contrapositive when they suspect the other party of lying. They're telling the world, out loud, exactly how to lead them around by the nose...

If this guy was in some prop firm, they would say - look at our top trader killing it!

No, this guy would have been kicked out after his first trade where he took 100% risk. A top trader who gets that kind of returns while taking reasonable risk is a winner who should be lauded; venerating one single fool who got lucky and emulating him is a guaranteed route to losing your money.

Just like you expressed in your journal, grinding is hard. So, imho, we need to (must) incorporate possibly of home runs in our overall trading plan. Doesn't mean being careless, but being opportunistic.

I'm not so much arguing with you, but rather a bit envious of this guy's ability to do what he did. Most of us would have grabbed a few thousands and ran. Something to keep in mind, I think.

But that's the point: he was careless - and lucky. And you're being envious of luck, which is... let's be polite and call it sub-optimal.

The only things I'm ever envious of are outstanding ability and skill in things that I want to achieve. I admire, in context, those who have the former (with, I'll admit, a bit of jealousy for not having that level of it myself), and put all my energies toward gaining the latter to whatever degree I can. Being envious of someone's money or luck? Ye gods and little fishes. "Who steals my purse steals trash..."

 

[Turveyd]

Actually the Chart on ROKU screemed SELL, got lucky with how much it moved but not random chance.

My last option trade 100% puts market TANKING 1 last push before going long, miss timed, gap up and RUN 2001 area, If I was 100% Calls already I'd of turned 6K into 1Mil+ inside of a week