That's why I'm indexed till I get out of the graduate school of business. You're all blind, and going to eyell at me because I told you, your returns are mostly random. Using information everyone has access to thinking your "strategy" is working. Oh let me not forget your mad trading skills. As they are the fire that dives the train. NOT All I can say to the "traders" here is good luck, I hope your misguided random adventure lands you in a net positive, but I can't feel sorry for those who fool themselves.
Ok there mookie. Whatever you say. I've been a successful professional trader for 12 years. Thats one hell of a random winning streak. You keep taking those classes and hitting those books, i'm sure the key to profitablitity is in there for you somewhere.
Congratulations...you took your first course in Finance, and stumbled onto the theory of market efficiency. Please educate us in all its forms...or, as we traders call it, curve fitting to make the model fit the market. Successful traders come in all shapes and sizes, and perhaps the biggest myth, is that formal education is a requirement to succeed. Nothing couuld be further from the truth, applied study of the markets, an intense focus on learning and mastery of one or more specific edges, and money management.
phds.......doctors and lawyers all do very well in the market....they lose money with an efficiency beyond belief.
in a trading universe which consists of so many traders, i would not be surprised to find a 12 year winning streak. imagine 100,000 market participants, and imagine just my lucky about 50% of them go belly up every year, by the 12th year, you would have approximately 49 people who have flawless trading records just by luck. so is there a chance that your trading record is simply due to luck? absolutely, just my .02: <img src="http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/233/tradershb1.gif"
ask any broker who some of the WORST traders are and they will tell you it's PhD's (in various fields), medical doctors, and lawyers why? because they think they are smarter than everybody else, smarter than the market itself, and cannot admit when they are wrong, because their "theories" tell them other than what the market is doing. it was academics who invented such absurdities as "efficient market theory" suuuuuuuure. the nasdaq was "efficiently priced" at 5000? the market is the aggregate of all trader actions. thus, psychology plays a big role. there is no way that ANY aspect of human behavior is "efficient" nor is information perfectly realized, and more importantly EQUALLY realized among investors (and traders). academics love to hold on to their pet theories, absent a mountain of evidence to the contrary. it's called "cognitive dissonance". they can hide in their ivory towers and pontificate on markets, when they don't really understand the market half as well as your average successful trader. last i checked, Peter Lynch, Warren Buffett, etc. did not have PhD's. nor does mark bolling two of the most absurd theories in academia that were held for DECADES despite contrary evidence at Efficient Market Theory, and the idea that all gender differentation (behavior) is socially constructed. no amount of evidence can dissuade academic ninnies once they have bought into a theory.
Wow, you really ARE an idiot. Please leave this board. There is nothing worse than a know-it-all trying to convince himself that he is smarter than everyone else. Why don't you stop wasting your time trying to demean other people and spend it studying - would probably do you more good. There is NOTHING worse than someone taking pot-shots from the sidelines. Good luck, I'm sure your PhD will get you very far.