I trade stocks...Nasdaq. I attribute my current level gain to changing my strategy (I probably would have done better than double in July and August but I couldn't seem to find a strat that worked for the stocks I trade), increasing my share size (with greater confidence in my strategy I increased to bigger size), getting into more trades, and the most important one, keeping my losses very tight. Initially I let my losers run a bit thinking they might come back/afraid to admit I was wrong but then I realized that: 1) My losing trades VERY rarely came back 2) The trades I enter that end up being losers are very few in an average day. So once I had those epiphanies and tightened up my losses I think my biggest losing day has been $20. Thanks for everyone's input on the poll so far!
A couple years ago I saw a story on tv about NYSE. They showed this floor trader who was 90 years old. I bet he can run rings around the best of us on this board. He is a darn good dancer too, as he demonstrated when he danced on the NYSE floor with the woman interviewing him. Age has nothing to do with trading.
Don't know the guy's name. But it was an eye opener for me. NYSE probably has several floor traders and specialists over 60 years old. They are the foundation and cornerstone, and they will be there so long as they make money.