I will say that I have not been trading since before 2007 but it was the crash in 2007 & 2008 that ANGERED ME to want to learn about trading because people most definitely profited during the crashes you mentioned. When I started learning I realized certain rules that if followed would have kept you on the right side of the market in every instance you mention. These are TA chart based rules so if you think that TA is BS then you will proclaim I am full of it. That is fine but I will tell you it took me about 4 years to figure it out and now my chart based rules most certainly do not catch the absolute top or absolute bottom but I am never far behind and on the right side of the trade far more often then not. Even something as simple as looking at a 13 MONTH Moving average line will keep you on the right side more often than not. Of course I don't trade off of moving average crossovers but just showing that you do not have to catch the absolute top or bottom to win. I am happy to post those evil charts showing the crash was imminent in 2007 & 2008 and even the drop in oil and gold to anyone that is interested. There is absolutely NOTHING on the charts that show an imminent crash NOW. Can that change in the next month,...sure but not likely. Changes usually take months to develop.
Just my 0.02