I seem to remember something about it 7 or 8 years ago about this Trader that turned $800 into I believe something like $180 million (or something ridiculous) in about a year and a half. I tried to google it, but couldnt find it. All i remember from it was he made a shit ton of money but was focused and freaked out to never change any of his daily habits including what he ate/drank everyday.
Either this guy http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-moving-japan-made-more-than-1-million-trades or http://www.japanprobe.com/2008/05/20/takashi-kotegawa-bnf-super-day-trader/ Pick your favorite
BNF bought a big office building in Akihabara, Tokyo for 77mm. Nothing fake or foolish about that. He eats a cup of ramen for lunch every day - heating that plastic in a microwave every day can't be good but he can afford the chemo.
I thought it was funny I am happy for the guy and all other retail traders who make a good living from trading. It means there is hope for us.
I wouldn't say they're gifted or very experienced.. As you see it's all about moment, somebody's mistake, void of activity on the market when your decision can give a start to the trend..
As you said, 'somebody's mistake'. That's how BNF (http://www.japanprobe.com/2008/05/20/takashi-kotegawa-bnf-super-day-trader/) made a bundle when an order was entered to sell 600,000 shares at 1 yen instead of 1 share at 600,000 yen. Can't remember at what price he bought many of those shares but he made some big bucks. He was on TV very often after that, and, true or not, he said his system was just to buy or sell stocks that were having the biggest gains/losses during the day and exit on the bounce.
BNF is a legendary trader in Japan. He was way successful before the famous J-Com fat finger incident and has built his account 10 fold thereafter. He doesn't disclose the details of his trading methods other than the necessity to discern a trending versus a ranging market. Whats impressive is that he kept building his account even during the serious plunges in the Japanese bear markets trading only from the long side based upon a divergence from the 25MA which many Japanese traders use as a proxy for the direction of the market. One of his colleagues is CIS who was recently interviewed by Bloombergs. BNF paid approximately USD200 million cash a number of years ago for a buiding in Akihabara Japan.