To echo previous posters… right place and right time with the right strategy, and willingness to take huge risks (like 25% drawdowns a couple times a year, in the normal course of business). These stories are one in a million for a reason.
I realized long ago, if you make money, no one cares how you did it. You are automatically smart and successful. There’s no more honor in earning a million dollars with highly research market neutral strategies vs buying Amazon on 2013 and forgetting that you owned it.
lol. This is the most like true and original statement I've seen on these boards in a long time. It's almost unbelievable. Someone could have a 5 million dollar account, buy 2 NQ futures contracts hold for 2 months through massive draw down and if they end up making $20k than everyone will ask how they did it and begging for them to teach them.
I remember Quallamaggie said in an interview that where other traders may scale down as their account grows he would simply keep increasing size while maintaining the same % risk, i.e., compounding profits. Also, I'm sure he traded way more aggressively than 1 % per trade in his early days and would also scale into a trade for a bigger position size while keeping initial risk small and risking unrealized profits for a larger win as he increased his size. This works well when the market is in an extreme bull phase and stocks are making substantial one way moves. Example: 5 % gain per week per $10 000 of capital in your account. You start with $10 000. As you hit $20 000, you double your position size (while keeping the same risk %). At $30 000, you add one extra unit for a total of three and so on. After one year (50 weeks), you have $72 500 in your account gross. After two years (100 weeks), you have $782 500 in your account gross. Idealized example, of course, but it shows the potential of increasing your size as your account gains more buying power. Of course, you need to be a consistent winner to accomplish this. Initially, growth is slow, but at some point it starts snowballing. Substitute 5 % gain per week with 0.5 % if you want. Over time, it will still yield an impressive result. At the end of the day, there's only a few Quallamaggies and Zangers per every generation of would-be traders, though.
He said at his peak 100mm but then that he had drawn down to approx $80mm. He also said he started way back with sub 10k.
When you have pocket aces you know what you have. When youre trading you dont know that you had pocket aces until after. Its a different game. You follow your plan but like Mark Douglas said you treat every trade the same and just put on the trade because you never know what the future will yield. Pocket aces you can see in hand and know your chances with that hand are outsized.
I have had the Roppel report since he started coming out with it again what 6 months ago (something like that). I love Roppel. Hes my favorite player in the game. The energy he brings is unreal. Infectious. THE GOLDEN GOOSE OF CAPITALISM WILL LIVE ON!! I am not at all new to trading or his materials. Where does he say to risk more than 1%?