If her plan was to make money the "old fashioned way" then she wouldn't have booked the premium as a gain to collect the incentive fees. She FIRST had to beat the high water mark, but she was in a draw, and simply didn't recover. She can't say "my intention to defraud is genuine because I'm putting my ill gotten gains back into the fund" lol!
Yet another "house wife type takes a course and becomes super trader," doing what pros can't do... Somehow selling prem year after year with no risk and NO edge and banking huge profits. Cliche' maybe but "if it's too good to be true..." For some reason the complexity of options leads to many "Just do this and this with options and you will makes lots of money" fraud funds and scammer advice, books, etc.
I wonder if that is why she is 66 and still working after making 'all this money'? There is nothing wrong with working at 66 if you enjoy what you do. But, I think she basked in the glory of being a TT guest and being crowned 'Karen the Supertrader'. And being recognized in public and being put on a pedestal for doing charity work in Africa planting trees. But...... because her accounting procedures were questionable back to 2012 and she had been living a fraud since October 2014....she was in too deep to get out. If she had quit, retired, or cashed out the fund, she would have been discovered. I wonder if she thought that eventually she would have gotten lucky and recovered her losses to get back in the green ? Do people like this think they will get back above water or do they not care ? It also makes you (or at least me ) wonder if she ever stole money as an accountant with her previous employer at the limestone company.
Nick leeson and LTCM both tried to stay afloat long enough to make it back and.... well it never works out the way they expect....
LTCM had a good strategy.. it was that the bailout was on such bad terms..it seemed unfair, like they were being screwed over. Had they been able to hold out ofr another few months, they would have continued to do well for many years. In fact, the strategy was replicated in later years with much success
LTCM and Leeson all went way over leveraged and had losses that could have been limited and gotten out but the ego takeds over. LTCM was so big they WERE the market and no way for the spreads to narrow when you are the one moving it and everyone against you knows it. All of these are good strategies when used properly. Leeson and LTCM did not use them correctly. LTCMs mistakes are well documented in the book "When genius failed". karen had a good strategy but ignored the risks or what I have always said, selling premium is a good strategy to use in certain conditions, not as a constant play in the market week in and week out regardless of what is going on. Leeson and LTCM both got blown out by black swan events...there always is one around the corner.
I wonder if the story of TD paying a 5 figure fee for every funded account that came through TT is true. I wonder how many accounts were opened due to Karen's story?
I haven't read that story. Do you have a link/source? That sure seems like a hefty referral fee, and it would probably have to be disclosed somewhere. Even if someone did open an account after watching TT, their disclaimers clearly state that it's an educational site and NOT financial advice.
I have no link/source. A friend related the story to me, he got it from a guy in the know at a golf outing. While a hefty fee, it does dovetail with trade small and be very active. I don't know if it's true, that's why I asked here.