POLL: What was your best trade ever?

The day of the fed discount cut was pretty big for me. I made about 10% of my year in the ensuing 10 minutes. Went from completely flat to completely flat in 10 minutes. I just had added a whole lot to my account. I won't go into specifics though.

 

Refco tanked in 2005 and Global Crossing in 2004.

 

to Rcanfiel...can I ask an honest question...are you the resident "ET poll taker"...not being smart or anything...just wondering...do you have an extreme interest in polls, Nielson ratings, political polls...just curious...you must have opened up about 20 polls...again, whatever...just curious as to your passion for this...again...friendly talk and nothing personal...

 

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Being investigated by the SEC for potential insider trading...priceless

 

You know..... this guy does start a lot of somewhat irritating polls. But if you don't like em don't respond. BUT if he is somehow benefiting from it then I think....God Bless Em.

My best trade was buying 50 Call Option Contracts on Triquint SemiConductor at $3( Late 1990's). Sold a day or two later For a $46,000 profit before taxes. It was sweet because it was my ability to see the trading range the stock was in and to take advantage of it with the best strategy for max profit with call options.
Bought SCMR(Late 1990's), Sold a few days later for $45,000 before tax profit.
I would like to break the $50,000 mark on a trade within a few days-a weeks time. That is my,... sort of a personal trading goal.

Funny thing, I posted on here about an intra day trade on CFC where I made and profited by $1600. Some jerks put that down as not being much to make.
I think if any of you guys that are starting with small trading accounts can make $200 a day you are doing better than a lot else....beats busing tables.
God Bless.

 

If they were so irritating, I doubt 50 to 100+ people would spend the time to respond to each one, on average. They don't like it, they can not read them.

 

Definitely going long during the tech bubble of the 90s.

You could throw a dart on any Nasdaq stock and it would go up without looking back. They were insane times.

Anek

 

It was at the end of the roaring 90s.

I was trading a stock, ADSP, that was moving hard on a China internet deal the first time China internet stocks went nuts.
I made money going long on the stock all day as it went from $3 to around a high of $14.

Finally towards the end of the day sellers stepped in ...and shorts with them.
It came in to $11 ...but not one penny lower.
Sitting on the bid at $11 was a market maker (cant remember which, FBCO or NITE.)
He bought absolutely everything for the last 15-20 mins of the day.
... and there was a lot to sell.
The stock would not bounce, nor would it go lower than $11.

I was short by then, so I just covered it and watched this very unusual amount of buying occuring at $11 for a stock that opened the day at around $3.

The next day, ADSP opened at $22 on some additional good news.
Aha! ...The buying now made sense.

This was my favorite kind of activity.
Stocks that came up this much this quick would always crash ... the question was "when?"

After the open, ADSP was "feigning" trouble.
It went to around $23 and change & then began to come in.
It made a new low (where I got short) and went as low as about $21.
It then made its way back up, made a new high & moved to $25.
I covered for a loss along the way.
Once again, it "feigned" trouble & began to come in.
I rolled the short dice again.
It moved as low as about $23 & went back up to its high.
Covered for another loss.
It moved to $30.

This was all happening within 15 - 20 mins following the open.

There was "feigned" trouble at $30 again.
Now a 1000% move on a $3 stock in 2 days was a fairly rare occurrance even at that time.
I took the round $30 figure as another resistance level to short against.
...but this thing wasn't done.

I covered for another loss, stayed flat and watched this freight train continue its journey.

It went to 32, 34, 36, 38, 40 ...within a few minutes.
There was no more feigned weakness.
42, 45, 48, ...... $50!

My heart is actually beating fast reliving the experience while I type.

That was it.
I was Jesse Livermore facing his conviction.
..& convinced I was that no matter how fast and furiously this thing was travelling, it just was not going to comfortably hover above $50 after moving closing on 2000% in just over 24hrs.
I had my theories.
There was a good chance one or a colluded few cornered the market in this issue with a tiny float at a very frothy time for this segment.
If this was the case and they bought the float majority for between $3 & $11, they would clean up as the thing spent the next few days or weeks going back to $3.
Either way, I was convinced this thing was not going to close the day above $50.

I didn't learn how to play Texas Holdem till quite a few years later
...but I was ALL IN!

I was already down quite a few thousand on the previous failed attempts.
I had about $400k BP in my account at that time.
I shorted 8000 shares at $50.
I sold the boat.

ADSP went to 51, 52, 53, 54, 55 ....no sellers, just bids.

56, 57....

Then ...... no buyers

It crashed even quicker than it climbed.
I covered it an average price of $36.
I took 14 dollars out of the stock on 8k shares.
...then I did a shot of single malt at just after 10am and called it a day.

For the record, I made most of my money as a trader going with the trend.
I've had a few windfalls going with my instincts, but against the trend ... this being my biggest.

I dont recommend such activity (not that it happens anymore.)
I'm just relaying it for the story

 

I remember this one. Craziest stock I have ever seen. Was this the one with the news about a newer quicker modem? Regardless, congrats on the nice score. I didn't touch it as it scared the shit out of me but it was fun to watch.