I can't resist!!!! I got this message in an old e-mail i have....3 years later, he is proud of his 4 year record of 18%! Today I sold PTSI at 29.35. Thatâs an 18% gain over my purchase price of 24.84. Now some of you skeptics might think that an 18% gain in the 4 years that I patiently held this stock is not really too terrific. But you must look at the facts. Over the same holding period, the S&P 500 was only up 15.6%. Thatâs right. I beat the market again. Iâm going to miss PTSI, it was the oldest holding in my trading portfolio. I am particularly proud of this trade because it was down quite a bit during the time I held it and many âexpertsâ on Elite Trader, IBD forum and elsewhere claimed that I was a fool for holding it. Letâs see if I can Google up some of these quotations. Ahhhâ¦hereâs one from Elite Trader: ---------------------------------------------- catmango Registered: Apr 2003 Posts: 230 05-30-03 05:18 PM Mr Market -- After having read through your stock picking model, one question sticks out. You clearly state in your model to "Buy this stock. In a typical bull market, the stock will, on average, achieve a 15% gain within 4 to 6 weeks. Sell the stock and repeat the process." And yet, in your "open positions" table you list six stocks (PTSI, ACMR, FRED, AXL, OHB, and CHKE) that have an average loss of 15.8% and that you've held for over a year. By holding those positions for so long you're going against your model, tying up capital, and potentially compounding unrealized losses. Can you please reconcile this? Wouldn't it have been better to dump these stocks after 6 weeks and free up your capital to put it into more productive positions? If you add your current holdings that are older than 6 weeks to your closed trades (since the start of 2002), you have 27 trades for an average gain of 8.35%. Still impressive, but roughly half the return of what you're claiming. ------------------------------------------------- Obviously I have made a fool out of this âgeniusâ from Elite Trader. Hereâs another one: --------------------------------------------------- Posted by quantpatterns on 10-30-03 03:49 PM: MrMarket, Have you ever heard of William O'Neil of IBD? I think you have similar growth oriented investing styles, except he pays attention to technicals as well. He has like 5-8% stop-loss rule. It's just good money management. Let's say you are in a losing position and you keep holding it, then you are missing out other great growth opportunities. You cut your losses fast. Then redeploy those capital for the next growth story. ------------------------------------------------------- I think you get the idea. PTSI was a whipping boy for the $$$MR. MARKET$$$ wannabees, but at the end of the day, I have proven myself superior to them all. That makes 82 consecutive profitable trades of 15% or better. I am HUGE! I am easily the greatest stock picker on the planet. No one can match this record of stock picking accuracy. No one can play golf on Mothers Day and live to brag about it. No one can wear different color socks to work and take their shoes off in the office. No one, that is, except the great $$$MR. MARKET$$$. Now then..onward. Iâll have a brand new $$$MR. MARKET$$$ winner very soon. Stay close to your email inbox and have a wonderful 4th of July Holiday! $$$MR. MARKET$$$