The Man Who Turned a $15,000 Trading Account Into $3.3 Million and The Lessons I learned From It

I know a man who turned a $15,000 trading accountanother exciting stock like Microstrategy. Going for
into $3.3 Million. It was an amazing stroke of luck. Hesmall 15%- 20% profits seemed like a waste of time to
even admits this.me. I wanted a big, huge, winner or nothing. then in July
"MARK, I am no fool. I know I was just plain lucky. I2003 a stock called TASR seemed to fit this bill. There
don't have magical system. I am not privy to insiderwas a lot of excitement. The stock was flying up.
information. I merely gambled BIG on the right stocks atPeople were buying in and the market conditions
the right time. It was no different than winning theseemed much more positive. I decided if the stock
lottery. I seriously doubt I could ever repeat it."rose to $12 I was going to buy with all my account. I
Obviously my first question was:was only playing with "house money now" and I was
"How did you manage this? What stocks did youprepared to risk it big to win big. I bought 16,600 TASR
trade and why?"at $12....boy was a nervous wreck for a few days as
Here's what floored me. But it shouldn't have done so.the stock "gyrated". THEN it took off. Just like
His massive wealth creating principles are exactlyMicrostrategy did. It seemed everyone wanted in and it
what the big stock traders throughout history havewas the talk of the stock market over the next 8
been preaching for years.months.. Can you imagine how I felt when the price
Here's how he did it:rose to $60? I was a paper millionaire. I decided not to
1) In 1999 in the final leg of the run-away bull marketbe too greedy and took some of my profits off the
"bubble" he opened a trading account with just overtable..... I sold 6,600 at $60 ($396,000) so I still had 10,000
$15,000. Simply because all his co-workers/friendsin TASR and the pressure was off. It now became a
family/neighbors kept telling him how much easygame. How high could TASR go? Could it defy
money was being made in the stock market. He hadgravity?
never read any books or bought any systems. Never6) I simply trailed my exit behind the closing price. Giving
attended a seminars. So he was lucky in that his headit enough leeway to avoid being exited through natural
was not filled with the B*S* most spill out.gyrations. In April 2004 I was exited at $290. I sold
2) He attended a few stock market chat boards and10,000 shares at $290 for $2.9 MILLION. Coupled with
everyone seemed to be excited about a stock calledmy 6,600 I sold for $396,000 it meant my account was
Microstrategy. It was trading at about $10 and henow at: $3,296,000 Million And that's how I did it.
made his mind up that if it rose to $14 he would buy.It's an amazing story. But here are the points you can
"Made sense to buy a rising stock" he told me. Thereally take home in the hope of achieving something
stock hit $14 in no time so he bought 1,000 shares atsimilar one day:
$14.50. He took a deep breath and held on.1) He went for the truly big moves with big capital.
3) The stock kept going up 15%,25%+ in a weekthere was no "diversification" here.
hardly ever stopping. It made me laugh how much2) Luckily, he got into the truly biggest movers of that
easy money I was making. People kept telling me tomarket cycle.
get out as the stock rose but I figured if it fell by XX%3) He held on for big profits. Most people make a quick
I would exit then. As the stock kept rising and rising20% (+/-) profit and exit... Imagine missing out on these
way beyond what anyone ever thought possible Ihuge gains because you took a small, quick profit?
made a decision that if the stock made it to $290 I4) He made his money during bull markets. Lost it
would exit. No question asked. A few weeks later itduring bear markets. But at least he kept away from
did and I sold out. I now had an account size ofthe worst of the bear markets.
$290,000 from a starting capital of $15,000.5) He traded without fear. Scared money can't make
4) "I thought this was too easy" Boy was I right. I thenbig money in the stock market.
made another 5 trades and lost on everyone. Qcom,6) Absolutely no fancy computer driven trading
YHOO, AMZN were some of the stocks people keptsystem that costs thousands of dollars needed.
telling me were going to go up big. but I lost thousands7) His exit strategy was simply driven by
of dollars on each one of them. My $290,000 accountPRICE...No-one opinion was followed.
was whittled down to $245,000. I decided to8) It's better to be lucky than smart.
withdraw$45,000 and leave the rest in until the generalWhat he actually did was exactly what Jesse
conditions improved. I took a long vacation to HawaiiLivermore/Darvas etc.. have preached for many
with my profits. How sweet.years.
5) I never traded for over 2 1/2 years.... I only wanted