What Was the Bullmarket Like?

Rearden Metal · Jul 3, 2006

Quote from thunderinvalley:

do you remember this post, RM?

Of course! One of my finest.

FaderTraderr · Jul 3, 2006

Quote from hubert101:

I've never understood it why they say trading is a zero sum game. If someone wins, someone else has to lose -- just doesn't make sense. Seems here most people made out like bandits in the 90s. And with Enron -- most people lost -- who the hell won (short sellers but they are rarely 50% of the float)

Everyone has a different time frame (daytraders, swing traders, long-term investors) and reason for being involved in a situation (dividend income, speculation, both). The astute trader will not only trade his own strategy, but he will strive to figure out when his time frame bleeds into another (say for example, the XBD being down 8-10 pts in a day)... to know when the value hunters come into the market and when they leave... when a move reaches its apex and when hedge funds and institutional prop desks sell to the retail investor (this year: Energy, gold).

Trading equities is only a zero sum game for trite masses - who almost always lose.

murray t turtle · Jul 3, 2006

Quote from Corso482:

What was the late 90's bullmarket like, for those of you who experienced it? At the time I was not very interested in the market, in fact I became interested right after the bubble popped, so I wasn't paying much attention at the time. I can recall hearing about IPO's rocketing up 200 -300%. I can remember people bragging about market gains.

I can recall worthless companies run by 18 year olds getting hundreds of millions in VC. But that's about it. I'm curious to hear what it was like for the traders. For those who were really in the trenches at the time, what was the bull market like? Anyone have any ridiculous stories of fortunes made or lost?

=====================

JNPR was over 200, looked like no stopping it;
not far from the peak

Remember hitting my stop late , suprised it stopped going UP

Dont have much to bragg about then;
wouldnt do that anyway, pride is a bananna peel

drsteph · Jul 3, 2006

Co-worker of mine had a trust fund that he ran up from $60,000 to over a million primarily on CMGI...

He blew out down to under 100k again and lost it. Needed medication.

Bummer.

99atlantic · Jul 3, 2006

I miss the good old days.

I was only like 15 or 16 and making $10,000/week......no money management or any type of strategy, just randomly buying based on the last tick - I remembe wondering why people bothered to work if you could gross 10k/week with almost no effort in the market....then the bubble burst ^_^

stock_trad3r · Jul 3, 2006

Made soo much money since last week fomr this bull market surge..so easy making money whe you are good at trading and you buy at th right points as i did

BrandNewTrader · Jul 3, 2006

Quote from hubert101:

I've never understood it why they say trading is a zero sum game. If someone wins, someone else has to lose -- just doesn't make sense. Seems here most people made out like bandits in the 90s. And with Enron -- most people lost -- who the hell won (short sellers but they are rarely 50% of the float)

futures and options are zero sum, not the case with equities

Steve Tvardek · Jul 3, 2006

Why dont you post your blotter on the P&L thread. No sense in posting this w/o any #'s.

Quote from stock_trad3r:

Made soo much money since last week fomr this bull market surge..so easy making money whe you are good at trading and you buy at th right points as i did

sulli · Jul 3, 2006

uh oh, someone's getting called out :eek:

aPismoClam · Jul 3, 2006

What was the '90's bull market like?

For me, it seemed like every chart pattern followed through, except on Fridays. It was like being Babe Ruth.

Compared to the aftermath of 9/11, and what specialists did to DOT traders, it was like shooting fish in a barrel.