Any bodtraders around during this same period 10 years ago in 1994? Share with us youngun bond traders what it was like during the bond crisis.
John D. Rockefeller, Sr. divested himself of all of his assets late in life save for a 20M account he used for trading. Afternoon breaks were often spent riding in the back seat of a fast car between two buxom women with a blanket across everyone's lap. Then, just as I do, he had to rush back to check out the close. Geo. I made the last sentence up about the close.
Yes I know you Naz traders get to relive the old days but it is not nearly the same. You had these sick momentum plays everyday back in 1999-2000 so if you got whooped one day, you had the next day and the next day to make it all back and double it. Simply going long some random company and having it announce a website provided 1000% returns. I was in NYC at the end of the bubble, I remember what it was like. Guys that did not have a dime to themselves turning into multi-millionaires in less than a year. This trader, that trader doing it. Every prop firm wanted to trade Naz and just hired bodies for the PC. It's not even close anymore. No millionaires being made from the current TASR and IPIX. God I'm so sad I missed it.
I have been divested of all my assets late in life save for a 3K account I use for trading. Afternoon breaks are often spent riding in the back seat of a fast car between two burly men with a hood over my head. I'm glad if I make it back in time for the next morning's open.
Here's a true trading story, I know because it happened to me. I got interested in trading in '98 when I met a lady who was daytrading a $50k account and making a couple hundred a day. By the fall of 2000, I had spent alot of time studying the market, and come up with my own crude system. I put about a hundred stocks into Clearstation, and setup daily charts with MACD and Stochastic on them. I would look at the charts every night, and if a stock had MACD crossing over, with Stochastic crossing above 20, I would consider buying it. I figured out how to margin the mutual funds in my Schwab account, much to the dismay of my grandfather, who had given me access to the funds when my grandmother passed away. I made three trades in the month of October using my crude system, and netted over $6k. I didn't know anything about stops or anything else. I would just call in an order in the morning, and then check the trade throughout the day from my day job. I took my wife and kids on a trip the first weekend in November, to celebrate the winning month I had. I remember telling her that I was going to really start focusing on trading, make some serious money, and quit my day job. When we returned Sunday night, I sat down at the computer, and came up with four stocks that fit my criteria. I was going all out, using most of the margin in my account. Monday morning I called in my orders, and got my fills. The next day was Election Day, you know, the one where there was no winner? On Wednesday I checked the prices, and everything was down, which caused some major fear. I checked back later in the day, and I was about even overall. I considered selling and going flat, but figured the election outcome would be decided that day, and I would be sitting pretty. To make the long story shorter, the outcome was not decided until sometime in December. By that time I was down over $15k in my $60k account. There was no rally after that, it just kept getting worse. I finally closed my positions, and took my losses. My grandfather was quick to remind me that he had warned me about trading on margin. I thanked him for his input. It was after this experience that I decided that position-trading was too risky, that I needed to become a daytrader. But that's another story.