If I posted returns of some of my systems, 99.9% of humans would say am FOS, many do anyway. You work hard enough, learn to program, ask others of questions and even hire brilliant people, never quit,...never. When people say it can't be done, find a way to overcome. Keep your privacy, live and humble, but if you not trying to make ever dollar you can when playing, there is always Buy and Hold.
Back in my day of "15 minutes of fame" (41% compounded return for 18 years... enhanced by my "hot years"... of 75%/year for 5 years... one time I went 7 months without a losing trade... I recall a client calling me up and celebrating, "we haven't had a losing trade all year". I thought, "you jinxed us"... next trade was a loser. LOL.), I often heard.. "that's impossible". Since, I've run across a few who have done even better... could see myself being envious. Bottom Line.... "It's Doable"! Not for everybody, but for those who make the effort and eventually "figure it out".
What did you trade ? Stocks or something else ? Daytrading or also Swing Trading ? Could you also say something about your overall trading style in those time span please ?
Mutual fund timing, including Relative Strength sector rotation... all done with "Price TA". Swing trade objective. The best year in my mind (not the highest return year) was when I was "in the market" only 25% of the market days and scored 104% gain. (Seemed outrageous at the time... still does.)
Sounds crazy, but back then there were few if any leveraged funds... if there were, I didn't use any of them. And there were no inverse/short funds. I was "long only". 100% "in or out", all the time.
Yeah, no margin, no leverage... nothing like that. I started my investing career with $25/month bank draft into Templeton Growth Fund. (I still recall filling out the account application... and thinking, "I hope this works out". LOL!) The software I was recording all this upon went "out of range". I called them up and asked they edit the program so that I would be "in range". They went, "What? Never heard of such a thing". LOL! Speaking of leverage... I've leveraged up my capital to 2:1 only a few times for short periods. Never higher than that. 'Twas after I started trading futures. May make a bigger play if there is a big enough smashola in '23-'24.
Understand, no leverage means also no stress (or far less) as you chase for the returns by not fearing the ultimate drawdown that can wipe you out. So you could sleep well all the time I guess ?.
Leverage is more stressful these days. I often see an issue or an ETF down 10% or so in one day... sometimes > 20%. Seems reckless to risk 10% of a lifetime accumulation on one day's action... and of course the next day could be more of the same.