Just finished rereading the 1st Market Wizards book, what's amazing to me is that most of the traders there started out with a very nominal amount. Skipping the learning period that they've had, the profits started to come in exponentially. Does anyone think that it is still possible to make that kind of money in such a relatively short period of time? Somehow, it seems like the odds are so much more against you. For one, most of these people took advantage of some kind of of market inefficiency, while today with the advance of the computer technology those inefficiencies are less and less. Maybe I am wrong, maybe what they took advantage of, was the inefficiency of human nature and that will always be there. I hope so. shneed
haha. make a huge amount of money in a short time? so you call 5-10 years of hell that they went thru before making big money "short time"? I wish you that your "learning curve period" is indeed short.
As I recall, most of them made their money during the golden age of commodities, when inflation was really high in the '70's and technical analysis wasn't widely used. I think that there is much less in the way of market inefficiencies to exploit nowadays.
Keep in mind the sample size. I read the Wizards books long ago. They interview what, 10-15 successful "Wizards"? And there have been how many tens of thousands of traders that have been trading over that period of time?
traderkay, I've been trading for three years now, making 6 figures every year, but I can't seem to get above that. Seykota has been trading for 30 years with a 60% return. I am just wondering if in the next 30 years it might be possible to achieve that with todays technology. DisciplinedHedg, My point is that over the years there will always be those 10-15 "Wizards", but because of the technology will they be able to take a small stake and turn it into 100-300 million, for example. Thanks, shneed
Many also took outsized bets at one point that paid off big time. Of course it's possible - you could have loaded up on ES contracts at 790 just a few days ago. The real question - is it probable?
you don't need to be a genius to make 100.000 bucks your first trading year, especially if it was during 1999-2000 my question is who are the real market wizards of today, you know the traders who have made over hundred million dollars in a year since 2001 would appreciate if you could give me some names so I can start a research