[mrbaseball]

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mebaseball, do you think 20 years is a long time in the grand scheme of things?

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I think it is in trading.

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Do you think that if you were a trader in the 1920's that you would have survived and come out on top by the 1930's?

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Not sure? I think I would have done fine since I would have employed the same attitude and principles I do now. A lot of what I do is arbtrage and trading based on and created for computers. Plus a lot of the technical tools I use weren't invented yet. Plus I am an options guy for the most part and they didn't have options then. Maybe I wouldn't have done so well afterall [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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Do you think it's possible that from 1987 to 2007 that the markets have been coincidentally stable (thanks to the federal reserve for bailing us out of the NASDAQ crash of 2001) and that you are just lucky to be in the situation you are in at the time you are in?

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Lots of volatilty pockets in the last 20 years. And voltilty pockets (like now!) are way better for traders than stability. Economic stability is one of the things that drove me out of bond options. Things were just too damn stable!

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Is it possible that a serious economic downswing could ruin you or are you hedged against such a tragedy?

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Anything is possible. And that is something every trader needs to understand, ANYTHING is possible. My personal trading and strategies are pretty much impervious to that. Like I say I do lots of arbitrage, limited downside option strategies and inter day stuff. Risk management is job one for a trader. Thne good stuff will happen as long as you avoid or minimize the bad stuff.