Ask mrbaseball about trading for a living

[mrbaseball]

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What returns were expected of you in the various assets?

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Not to lose money! But it depends. As a market maker or spec trader you don't really think in terms of returns. You start each year zeroed out. For certain specific trades (ie arbitrages) you have an idea of what you are shooting for percentagewise but it varies from trade to trade. One trade might have a goal of 10% and another might have a goal of 25%. For example I do one arb where I sell it 10% or more over fair value and buy it back around 4% over fair value. Sometimes it will get as much as 15-20% over fair value where I sell as much as I can. I still don't buy it back until it gets back to around 4% though.