OP got no idea what youse be talkin about. I know my statistics. I do not know what robustness entails mathematically or statistically r/t trading.
bln said "Before you can manage other peoples capital you need to be able to manage your own. Get to the stage where you are continuously making $100.000 in annual profit for a couple of years. Then you may be experienced enough to take on OPM." Do $100,000 days count?
Upping the bar involves doing it on your own instead of doing it for someone else. The only thing that attracts traders to working for others is job security, dental/medical benefits, pay vacations, bonuses or fear when they see (know) their profits as an individual has declined or become very difficult to stay above water. The above applies to just about anything outside of trading. For example, a close friend of mine is a very successful contractor (electrician) that made 50k - 80k per year working for himself the past 12 years. He recently got married to a women with very young children and decided to get more "job security" just to make her happy. He now works for a big company, in charge of others for almost the same pay but with the added benefits he needed to make his new spouse happy. My point, with those types of returns...keep working for yourself unless you're feeling some pressure from someone else.
20% is a big drawdown. most funds get shut down at that level, or earlier. This is from an analyst/manager who, according to his own site, worked at Tudor, Moore, and Caxton: "Lots of people seem to believe that those who manage investments for a living do the same things that personal investors do only with bigger numbers. Nothing could be further from the truth. Personal investors can buy or sell anything they like across all markets, and are able to continue investing even after theyâve taken sizable losses. That isnât true for professionals. Professional investors, particularly those working in hedge funds, are much more seriously constrained in what they can and canât do. Investment professionals make their way in the world through analyzing and quantifying risk. The art of blending those risks and understanding their various weaknesses and strengths is what all hedge fund managers do to earn their money. While no one is right all the time, the best managers continue to be right more than they are wrong. And many of the best have done so for many years." http://freenj.blogspot.com/2008/10/why-hedge-funds-are-pulling-out-of.html
Well, if you can keep it up. The outcome of one single day, week, or month doesn't mean squat. Continuity over a longer period of multiple years are the only thing that matters.