Quote:I'm sorry if I'm being overbearing here, but this is something that has interested me for a long time, so I have a lot to say about it. 

 

1) The only way to limit your risk is to limit your gain. 

2) Anyone who is telling you they are beating the the market is probably lying about it, because very few people (you can count them on one hand) can consistently beat the market average.  

3) I doubt these people are telling you the truth.  And if they are telling you the truth, I doubt they will also tell you when they lose back all the money they made. 

 

Beating the market is hard.   REAL hard.   That's why people get paid millions to try and beat the market, and they almost all fail to do it.   They might beat the market for one year, or even for several years, but eventually they get burned.  

 

The average hedge fund has better information than you do because they are in effect standing right inside the company watching it.   They know everything before you do.  

 

To beat the market you have to have an aptitude for math, the ability to read a financial statement, iron-willed discipline, nerves of steel, and you have to work at it very very hard.   There's no way around it.    There's no short cut.   If there were, we'd all be rich.  

 

I definitely agree that beating the market average is difficult however there are good performing stocks, decent ones and many bad ones if you stick with the good ones and know when to go in and out beating the market becomes a lot easier. For example on March 27th based off of what happened the previous day I purchased RGEN as soon as the market opened at 28.80 per share, right now I am up about 20% as RGEN closed yesterday at 34.75, not bad. It has been a nice ride but I am ready to take my gains and have placed a stop market order that will execute at 34.50, if it should fall that low. If the stock continues to rise my gains will continue to increase and I will most likely set my stop market order a little higher.

 

For comparisons sake SPY, the S&P 500, is up just 3.2% over the same period of time. 

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