Ah yes, to be younger again........the late-20's, the late-30's, the late-40's, the late-50's, the late-60's, the late-70's, the late-80's, the late-90's and now.......the "Late-Naughts". The Golden Days seem to happen with ~10-year regularity.
My favorite was Emulex (ELX now). It was a 10 bagger in 1999 alone. Closed at 112.50 on 12/31/99 (went up 44% just in 12/99). I loaded up the truck at the open on 1/3/00. The stock opened up at 166 (up 47.5% from the previous close on no news...but this wasn't unusual at that time), hit 172 and promptly closed at 127. Just goes to show you how you can lose $$$ even in that crazy environment. I remember very well that after January 3, 2000 that things were going to get interesting very soon with the market. In December 1999 it seemed like the NASDAQ went up almost everyday...and not by 5 points like what's happened recently, but by 30 to 130 points everyday. Mo-mo was a religion...just fasten your car to the train for the ride.
1999-2000 l was barely 19, at University and was attending some professional courses on Finance as a sideline, and it was the best thing that ever happened to me! I saw the final phase of a bull market and a full bear swing that decimated a few people l knew. I quickly respected the market place and have always had a healthy fear of it. I think best time to learn is when there is absolute chaos and you are young,but receptive. Once you know what those flashing numbers on your screen can do to other people's accounts you make sure you protect ur ar5e !!! At one point l was forcing my self through 3-5 books a month. To top it off, l saw 9/11 live( am UK based) and what red sea on the screen and black swan means...
My favorite was ANCR Ancor Communications, it was later bought out by QLGC. It went from $1 - $84. Some other 'gems' from that era EGGS-Egghead.com, EXDS-Exodus Communications, PETS-Pets.com, Oh and who could forget what was supposed to be the next great thing WBVN-WebVan which of course was an online grocery retailer. Just read the following insanity............ While Webvan was popular, the enormous amount of money spent on infrastructure far exceeded sales growth, and the company eventually ran out of money. For example: Webvan placed a $1 billion (USD) order with engineering company Bechtel to build its warehouses, bought a fleet of delivery trucks, purchased 30 Sun Microsystems Enterprise 4500 servers, dozens of Compaq ProLiant computers and several Cisco Systems 7513 and 7507 routers, as well as more than 80 21-inch ViewSonic color monitors and at least 115 Herman Miller Aeron chairs (at over $800 each). I can't believe they didn't make it.
sorry..the name is Rearden Metal but ur absoloutely right.... i regret taking all those LONG weekends, early days off and spur of the moment trips to carribean and south america i took during 99-01 ( i loved the down market) in retrospect ..those days off probably equal what i make in 2 years of worknow ..haha (at least the fed has finally raised rates...gettin 1% on your cash plus makin small change trading SUCKED in 2003-04) d
sorry..the name is Rearden Metal but ur absoloutely right.... i regret taking all those LONG weekends, early days off and spur of the moment trips to carribean and south america i took during 99-01 ( i loved the down market) in retrospect ..those days off probably equal what i make in 2 years of worknow ..haha (at least the fed has finally raised rates...gettin 1% on your cash plus makin small change trading SUCKED in 2003-04) d
If you want to read some great stories about trading during the bubble, do a google search for Dan Zanger. He is not a day trader, more of a momentum swing trader, but he racked up some insane profits over that period of time and managed to add on when the naz broke its parabolic curve by shorting. He did give some back after, but managed to hold on to a nice profit.
Around that time my dad called me a told me that he didn't think the current slide of oil prices (down to $12/barrel) was overdone and I should get in some drilling stocks. I did (I didn't start day trading till a few years later). A little while later I remember watching CNBC hearing an analyst talk about how recent OPEC moves would pave the way for $30 oil. I knew nothing about TA then and ended up getting out for about a 50% profit (which was good, but there was nothing in the chart that said to get out...) including writing covered calls. I thought covered calls were the coolest and in '01 I started a covered call strategy with QQQ. Again, no TA, and I rode the blasted thing all the way down writing and buying more with the profits. Which would have been fine except I got out at the bottom too. Moral of the story: learn TA or die.