In Van Tharp's 2010 book Super Trader he wrote about a trader who claimed to run his live account from 13 k$ to over 1 M$ in 3 months. It sounded truthful to me. Enough details were given for a backtest verification (correcting for an error in the start day). I tried backtesting a few strategies with various parameters close to what he used. (The trader did not disclose the actual strategy he used.)
I hit on a case of about 69x across those 3 months--essentially right on his claim.
Changing nothing but the start day (still 3 month runs) in subsequent months, each trial lost money! Oops!
A chart of those 3 months showed a strongly rising trend with very little noise. He caught the beginning and end very closely, and kept the pedal to the metal throughout.
So we arrive at (2 lines from C. Faith Way of the Turtle, 2 from me):
The trend is your friend
‛til the bend at the end;
Better if quiet
And not a riot.
In 1979 I opened a commodity account with EF Hutton and started trading (mostly gold), knowing little more than support-resistance lines and trend lines. I caught gold around the time it began its parabolic ascent to orbit. I traded “all-in” on advances, then closed positions when gold took a breather. Then back in when the recent high was broken. In 9 months my account went to 30x at maximum, but was at about 20x when the dust settled. With gold broken, I went back to work a few years later.
The lesson: catch the beginning of a low-noise trend and stay all-in until the end.
Easy, huh?
If you were entertained by this real-life account, then whenever you identify the beginning of a low-noise trend that will run for the next 3 to 9 months, please let me know.
I hit on a case of about 69x across those 3 months--essentially right on his claim.

Changing nothing but the start day (still 3 month runs) in subsequent months, each trial lost money! Oops!

A chart of those 3 months showed a strongly rising trend with very little noise. He caught the beginning and end very closely, and kept the pedal to the metal throughout.
So we arrive at (2 lines from C. Faith Way of the Turtle, 2 from me):
The trend is your friend
‛til the bend at the end;
Better if quiet
And not a riot.
In 1979 I opened a commodity account with EF Hutton and started trading (mostly gold), knowing little more than support-resistance lines and trend lines. I caught gold around the time it began its parabolic ascent to orbit. I traded “all-in” on advances, then closed positions when gold took a breather. Then back in when the recent high was broken. In 9 months my account went to 30x at maximum, but was at about 20x when the dust settled. With gold broken, I went back to work a few years later.
The lesson: catch the beginning of a low-noise trend and stay all-in until the end.
Easy, huh?

If you were entertained by this real-life account, then whenever you identify the beginning of a low-noise trend that will run for the next 3 to 9 months, please let me know.
