I think people are underestimating how many housewives and random people made money in the tech boom also.
Are you telling me that it was so easy to turn 13K into 1.6 mil that everybody was doing it? Come on man that is impressive period.
facts are tons of traders lost money in the tech boom--- shorting the "unsustainable" high prices too early. you would be shocked at how many supposed smart traders blew out during this period. surf
Shorting too early ? You seem to be the resident expert on that. Your commentary on your CROX short position is frightening. Hopefully you only manage (and I use that term lightly with you) your own money. You throw around big words and talk a lot, but you dont even come close to having a grip on the most important aspect of trading...money management. Still waiting on your secret news out of The BOE. Did you fire your "top quant" yet?
My point exactly, many smart seasoned traders lost money but Mr. T did not. On the contrary he made 1.6 million and kept it. Of course, I still think he is a cocky SOB but the fact remains the same: he made that 1.6 mil from trading period and as a trader that is a great accomplishment. As for his human qualities .... well that is entirely different matter.
I agree, some very smart traders got crushed during that period. The reason they got crushed is because they knew those tech stocks shouldn't have been trading anywhere near the prices they were at, but they shorted too early. However, newbies had no idea about valuations, most had barely even seen a down week, much less a bear market. Ignorance was bliss...buy, buy, buy...stocks only go up.
Timmy's 1.6 million is PRE-TAX over a period of 4 years ('99-'02). I can honestly tell you in my office of 15 or so guys, at least half made a pre-tax million dollars (or much more) from '99-'01 (3 years). I never said it was "so easy", but I will say it was very do-able. Anyone who worked at a prop or retail shop back in those days will tell you the same thing.
1.6 million PRE-TAX is roughly 1 million after taxes and living expenses over that 4 year period. Since that "audited pre-tax, blah, blah, blah" period.... Timmy started a "hedge fund", and he has already stated that the large majority of the money in his fund is his own (his funds AUM was roughly 1 million). Timmy's fund is down 35% over the last 19 months...and has returned (not sure if "returned" is even the right word), a pathetic 1% over the last 4+ years. In other words, Timmy has not really "kept" too much of his post tax dollars. He's been losing it back to the market and inflation at a pretty steady pace. Q-- Why do you think Timmy is going the route of a snake oil salesman? A--- HE HAS NOT MADE MONEY TRADING IN ALMOST 5 YEARS.
Q. Did he make his million shorting microcap stocks or being long tech stocks? If he made it shorting stocks during the bubble then i am very impressed.