You hear stories about these super large traders like that japanese CIS guy who made 9 figures from 5 figures more recently making 34m in one day. Does anyone in retail circuits actually place $100,000,000+ trades on margin ? All those market wizards guys who cleaned up during their time. How do these folks run up such large amounts of capital without losing it all along the way. You would have to take some pretty big risks to go from 10-100k to 10-100m in a couple of years. Or are they a thing of myth, rarer than moviestars, pro athletes etc
I knew a few traders who were pushing 250lbs. and over 6'2" so I am sure it is more common than you think...
Why are you asking what you already know? Apparently you have never heard about the countless others who have committed financial suicide by emulating these mythical traders?
The trick of the money. Think like a bank. While all that money is doing anything, much people can eat thanks to them. Imagine a margin of 10.000$ for 3 people. And they withdraw 10.000$ after a year and let 10.000$ to keep investing (in the best cases they double their account, in the worst they loose all). How much money they are still winnin? 0 after a year. While that time the firm can pay salarys ... etc.
There's already a recent thread about this and you're exaggerating some of the info and missing other important info. 1) They traded in a market that had unusual volatility than ever before at the time 2) They were in the right place at the right time 3) CIS guy is anonymous and not verified...prefers to remain as such 4) Those that are verified...they were not retail traders like your typical retail trader you see today. Most of them are professional traders and had a network of such prior to hitting those big wins. 5) Retail traders today do not place such large types of trades. Think about this carefully, to place trades like that you're already identified by the exchange as a professional trader. Therefore, via your quote...its a myth involving retail traders placing $100,000,000 on margin mainly because traders doing such are not retail traders. Yet, had you dropped that number down to like several million...I'm sure there are retail traders today doing trades like such on margin although I would think their brokers and the exchange do not identify them as retail traders.
Most traders I know that do it for a living don't make more than $500K a year. Those turn nothing into millions stories should be ignored. They are not the standard of successful trading and delude your mind with false hope and unrealistic expectations.