The myth of letting your winners run

Discussion in 'Risk Management' started by Flowfollower, Jun 2, 2020.

How do you do it?

Poll closed Jul 21, 2020.
  1. Outlier hunting

    20.7%
  2. Profit target

    44.8%
  3. A combination of both eg trim and trail

    34.5%
  1. volpri

    volpri

    Make it happen Eastwood. Show charts too. That would be great.

    For years I lived in Honduras. Now back and forth. Many friends there. Believe it or not I introduced okra and butterbeans to the country back in the 80’s. I don’t think they had ever heard of either before then. Now okra is quite common.

    Back in the day, many moons ago, I somehow traded with a laptop while in the mountains of Honduras drilling water wells. I don’t remember just how I managed to hook up my laptop but I traded stocks via level 2 using money net for level2 quotes.

    https://moneynet.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/reference/pages/125239302/Components

    It was hilarious to be drilling a water well and trading in the rural mountains of Honduras. Without any electricity!

    You too have a good weekend.
     
    #151     Jun 6, 2020
    themickey likes this.
  2. KCalhoun

    KCalhoun

    I let these winners run, too bad I neglected to scale up

    Screenshot_20200605-152550_Chrome.jpg
     
    #152     Jun 6, 2020
  3. Tradex

    Tradex

    WOW, trading with level 2 quotes from some mountain in South America while drilling water wells, you really take your trading seriously Indiana Jones ! :D
     
    #153     Jun 6, 2020
    volpri likes this.
  4. Tradex

    Tradex

    Don't worry, you will get them next time!
     
    #154     Jun 6, 2020
    KCalhoun likes this.
  5. savoir

    savoir

    Those are shockingly small sizes for a trading guru. 2 shares of a $50 ETF? 5 shares of a $16 stock? You made hardly any money on those trades. What is the point of showing off these holdings? Obviously you will use the percentage gains for marketing purposes, along the same line as your "trading millions" claim. You ought to be embarrassed really if you had more sense.
     
    #155     Jun 6, 2020
  6. KCalhoun

    KCalhoun

    The reason I traded small was because it was a small account challenge I did for myself as a test. My goal last fall was to see if I could double an under-2k account.

    I did, due mainly to swingtrading a few shares of TVIX. The reason for tiny size was simply because it was a small account. So instead of attacking me for no good reason, you could apologize and congratulate me on getting fantastic percent gains.

    My purpose for sharing my screencap here is obviously not for marketing, the sizes are tiny and if anything gets the opposite, troll posts from unkind people. The purpose is to demonstrate percent gains from letting winners run, the thread topic. Sheesh

    I am not a guru, I am a student of the markets and always will be. #truth

    Screenshot_20200605-152550_Chrome.jpg
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2020
    #156     Jun 6, 2020
  7. savoir

    savoir

    If you feel attacked by someone pointing out the obvious, that is your own problem. These little account challenges amount to not much more than paper trading.

    You do deserve congratulations, however. You have managed to successfully turn your trading hobby into a full-fledged business of selling trading education. That must not be easy to maintain with all the competition out there.

    Instead of messing around with these $2,000 accounts, why not challenge yourself to double a $100,000 account in 3 quarters and show that off? It shouldn't be too scary for you since you have income from your day job. Isn't this the dream you are selling to your students anyway?

    To deny your marketing yourself as a guru is disingenuous.
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2020
    #157     Jun 6, 2020
  8. deaddog

    deaddog

    Why not show the whole blotter. Let's see the bottom where the losing trades reside.
     
    #158     Jun 6, 2020
  9. Tradex

    Tradex

    Doubling a $2000 account is the same thing than doubling a $100K account or a 1 mil account.

    However, I believe that the idea here is to show that the average (small) trader with 2K in his account can double his money, as most traders do not have $100K to trade with and will not be able to relate to his challenge with that much starting capital.
     
    #159     Jun 6, 2020
  10. savoir

    savoir

    Are you naturally this stupid or did you have to work at it?

    Why not go the other way then: It's the same thing as doubling a $2 account or a 25 cent account.
     
    #160     Jun 7, 2020