I began building up my capital in 1992 and started as simply a buy and hold investor. I have evolved over the years into a swing trader and trend trader and also used options. It has been a great run. I really stopped investing and started ‘trading’ in and out in 1999 during the wild parabolic tech bull market. I picked up many lessons over the years and here are some key ones on my trading journey. Many times I was fortunate to be on the right side of these lessons and other times I learned them the hard way.
1999 Stocks can go parabolic without any fundamentals.
2000 Bull markets can run farther than anyone expects realistically. NASDAQ 5,000
2001 Black Swan events can change everything.
2002 Bear markets can last a very long time.
2003 It is crucial to be in the stock market long when the reversal out of a bear market begins.
2004 If you are in the right trend you can have a great year regardless of the indexes.
2005 Find where the trends are and trade them.
2006 Focusing on trading one stock that quadruples in price can provide great returns.
2007 It is not what you make in a bull market but what you keep that really matters.
2008 Going to cash at the right time can save a lot of draw downs and stomach lining.
2009 Ignore the macro situation and just trade price.
2010 Anything can happen at any time. Even a flash crash. DJIA drops 1,000 points in one day. Always manage risk.
2011 Uncertainty and market opening gaps can chew up an account.
2012 A big cap stock like $AAPL can double in price.
2013 Trading $SPY with leverage can offer a very smooth equity curve.