<p>For the professional investor it’s just as much about risk/volatility (if not more) than return. Monthly double digit gains means that you’re taking on way too much risk. BTW good credentials for the long term investment adviser (not private hedge fund) is a 8% return annually plus/minus 12% standard deviation(volatility). Anyone that can make those numbers will have a good career and be paid handsomely. BTW very few can do it.</p>
<p>With respect to textbook knowledge, slightly above average intelligence is all that’s needed. Luck plays a huge role, and developing an intuition for how markets behave usually becomes the most important thing.</p>
<p>I always refer stock market to a giant Las Vegas poker table, the one who can control his risk and emotion wins at the end. The house, who collects only a commission is the stock broker.</p>
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<p>Ideally, you need start with really high returns for your small capital, maybe 25-30% a month and turn that 500 to 2500 in 8 months. </p>
<p>I only find 10% a month impressive if your capital is at least 50K.
<<<</p>
<p>Complete hokum. Pretty sure he’s ■■■■■■■■, but just for safety’s sake this is not how the market works. “Day Trading” does not work at the retail level over any real time horizon (and arguably not even at the professional level).</p>
<p>It does not have to be day trading, he could play the penny stock and got lucky. He could have maybe two or three trades and won big to make that 2500 mark.</p>
<p>or bought some options.</p>
<p>I did play some penny stocks in the beginning that were very speculative, but that was just to get my capital up. So that I could afford some real stocks. </p>
<p>My best and most recent plays were Netflix in January for around 150, and tesla in late April for around 50 which I still haven’t sold. (I think it can reach 140 by the end of September.) </p>
<p>Obviously I’m not making an incredible amount of money considering I’m only 18 and my funds are quite limited. I am however IMHO making some pretty significant percentage gains. (Not to be conceited, that’s just what I think.)</p>
<p>EM1994, nice.</p>
<p>Em1994, that’s great. I’d continue to cultivate your interest in capital markets and expand your knowledge of the sector. Nasim Taleb is great, as is the classic A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Malkiel. If you’re interested in more of a quantitative view of financial instruments, you can’t really beat the Hull book.</p>
<p>The only point a few of us are trying to make is that those types of returns are mostly random variations, penny stocks exceptionally so. 7 dollar trades + retail bid/ask spread and then taxation on your profits means you’re playing against a stacked house. Considering the people who do this professionally lose to the market index, its a net waste of time.</p>
<p>[Credit</a> Suisse Hedge Fund Index](<a href=“Credit Suisse”>Credit Suisse)</p>
<p>That said, I also like buying stock in companies I believe in. ATVI was a winner term, FIO was not. The takeaway is that it ends up being completely random.</p>
<p>If trading is what you like, there are tons of trading jobs that arent just proprietary trading (trading the firms money to make more money, something that’s in decline). There are all sorts of traders executing all types of hedging strategies and buy/sell tickets.</p>
<p>heck, if you are that good, em1994, take that 2500$ and make 250,000$ in a year or so why you need to work for a hedge fund? by the time you are 30 you could retire with $25M. :)</p>
<p>I guess as I get older the more I think young people should get the opportunity to figure things out on their own.</p>
<p>People learn more by doing. People want to play the game. They should get to play. It is all a learning experience. It is all good. Young people arent going to hurt themselves at 20 years old by speculating in stocks. </p>
<p>Playing with 2500 is a very cheap education. EM1994, unless you need that $2500, I see no problem with what you are doing. At your age, this is the time to explore.</p>
<p>I completely agree dstark. Plus, whatever we know about how it “was,” it has nothing to do with how it will “be.”</p>
<p>Go for it Em! If you’re having fun just remember how that feels and try to hang on it all the way through.</p>
<p>I would suggest that you take some profits out to keep aside for yourself, like 1000. Then go for it with 1500.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>"Plus, whatever we know about how it “was,” it has nothing to do with how it will “be.”</p>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p>Hey, in the history of Wall Street, there were lots of self made “Hedge Funds”, Hetty Green, “The Witch of Wall Street”, for example who bailed out New York City by writing a check.</p>
<p>[Hetty</a> Green - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetty_Green]Hetty”>Hetty Green - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Her son, Col. Green, had to spend her estate all on Women and Stamps for Collectors and basically financed the stamp dealers on Nassau Street.</p>
<p>Em1994, you maybe one of them. Think BIG!</p>
<p>I know a guy that worked where I used to work. The guy was a trader and he was losing money. His risk was out of control. I asked a shareholder with lots of trading experience, “Am I seeing things correctly? What this trader is doing looks like a disaster waiting to happen.”</p>
<p>And the shareholder said, “Yes. This guy can cost us SIZE”.
So I told a few people at the firm and… Eventually after more losses…the guy was fired.</p>
<p>The trader that was fired ends up on the convention circuit sharing his trading expertise. 
People pay good money to listen to people that dont know what they are talking about. </p>
<p>Now… The guy is going to start a hedge fund. :)</p>
<p>That shall be my career exit strategy</p>
<p>Dstark</p>
<p>You had the best example of</p>
<p>Past experience is not a guarantee of future</p>
<p>“That shall be my career exit strategy”</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Artloversplus, yes. No guarantees.</p>
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<p>$NFLX is up 175% and $TSLA up 285% YTD. Those are some pretty speculative stocks - it’s great that you were on the right side of both.</p>
<p>@ TheBanker (lol I agree with ractagon, great name!) Thank you very much, I didn’t really expect such high returns though, and didn’t think of them as speculative when I bought in, quite the contrary actually, i thought of them as safe & long-term investments. I was hoping for 10-15% in 6 months to a year and maybe more after that. The major jumps were a pleasant surprise to say the least. lol I was a happy camper with an ear-to-ear smile pretty much every day at school this spring.</p>
<p>& @rexximus thanks, & I wouldn’t give up on fusion yet, I remember I lost big with FIO in my stock-game in marketing/finance class when their ceo resigned. I didn’t lose any money but I missed out on some extra credit for sure, (arguably just as valuable to a hs student) I think it’s possible for FIO to get back to 19-20 (could take a while) but if it does dump It I don’t see it going anywhere beyond that. Anyways I know you weren’t asking for any advice I’m just saying I can relate to your loss.</p>