"If everyone spent 90% of their time on how much they can afford to lose instead of spending 90% of their time on pie-in-the-sky ideas of how much theyâre going to make then theyâd be incredibly successful investors." -- Paul Tudor Jones
Assuming 220 trading days in a year, you are looking at 200% return on investment. The top investors in the world are making 20%-40% return. So, you tell me, what are your chances?
Theoretically, everything is possible... And of course, you are comparing a hedge fund investor with a small retail account trader. 0.5% is 1 ES point per day with a 10K account, just to put it into perspective...
Yes.. spot on. Anyone who attempts to justify other is simply full of crap! (Over time, neither "vehicle" nor "time focus"... long term investor, swing trader, scalper... makes a difference) Averaging 20%/yr is good, solid work. Averaging 30%/yr is "extraordinary". Averaging 40%/yr would be what? What adjective exceeds "extraordinary"? BTW... there are 254 trading days per year. 365 days, minus 104 weekend days, minus 7 official market holidays.
That's not true. This gentleman averaged >100% return for the past 6 years: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=213286
If an independent trader "works" EVERY trading day then he/she is missing out on the bigger payoff of being an indepenent trader.