How come I always hear the media referring to 20-30% annual returns as "big returns". How come you don't hear about hedge funds or individual traders who have had 100%+ returns? It seems possible that traders can have even much higher returns than that.Ive been doing 10-20% a month and haven't been trading options or futures, just stocks. I just trade simple technical chart patterns and news stories, and cut losses at 5-8%. What am I missing here?
The media is more attracted to people who average 20% -30% annual rates of return over longer periods of time. People who generate 3-digit and 4-digit rates of return are deemed to be "flashes in the pan" soon to implode. Institutional investors prefer consistency and are terrified of volatility.
You are missing that you likely don't have a 10 year track record that illustrates what level of risk you take in order to achieve your gains. I can goto Vegas and make 1000% in a good night. And lose everything the next night.
Maybe companies that are looking for customers are paying, in some way, for advertising otherwise known as "the news". If you don't believe that news releases are purchased then try calling some TV stations on the telephone sometime and tell them about your terrific investment performance, notice if they broadcast your story on the TV.
That's because a 20-30% return is big for people that just dump their money into a fund or individual stocks and let it ride. For us active traders, yes we take on more risk but we are more aware of price movement, therefore letting us generate larger returns in excess of 100%. I'm a pit trader, who year-to-date has a return of 517%, but that is from actively trading, not just letting my money ride in some investment.