I have all the paper in a box with my parents, but I'd guess somewhere between 30-60. While I had a very high win rate, most of my profits where from a few outlier trades. So yes, I was lucky and I'm aware that the sample size is too small to argue against that. But perhaps it's possible to set yourself up to be lucky?
Sure, for instance with the help of uncle Ben Sounds like one of these stories from during the dotcom bubble...
Yeah, except that I managed to stop while I was ahead, before I wasted it on day trading. : ) My 'methodology' got a signal today. Norwegian Energy Company - Up 8,71% on the day after an oil discovery in the Barents Sea. Made it to the daily winner list and got a lot of attention in the media. I'm long. : )
Yes, that was quite a feat! Congrats on that! Most people during the dotcom bubble were too greedy to quitâ¦
My dad also made a small fortune with a little method he worked out. Similar to you, it wasn't an amazing amount of money and i'm sure most posters here would consider it chicken-feed, but he turned £8000(ish) into about £150,000 in about 1 year. However, he concluded that it was all basically luck. The method stopped working, and he quit nicely ahead after giving back £10,000 or so to the market. I sometimes wonder if even the people who think they are trading Gods who have been consistently profitable for a while aren't just a ticking timebomb
Luck is definitely a big factor in this game and many confuse it with skill. You could read Fooled by Randomness if you're interested in more on the topic. You're welcome. Probably not worth anything, just fun to reminisce about the time money was pouring into my bank account and look back at what I did.
I believe this would be very viable today, you have enough filters to be on right side of market. I am not a swing trader in stocks, only long term, but have ventured in stock option credit spreads past three months, doing massive backtesting, am either do it the right way or don't do at all. One of the methods I have started to trade is similar to what you describe, wait for huge drop then put on Put option credit spreads, it has tested out well and so far in real time done well. What I find amusing in ET, here someone has provided a very good approach, but others lack of experience precludes them to see value. People need to get off their lazy asses and do some work. Forums are great for offering ideas. Thank you Laissez Faire