Apr. 3 at 11:37 AM
$AAPL $MSFT $NVDA $AMZN $NFLX
I made the following post on my subscription site and thought I would post it here in case it could help others:
HOW ELITE TRADERS MAKE BIG MONEY
So you all know by now that I study elite traders to determine what they do to make big money.
Along those lines I have shared with you a quote attributed to Jesse Livermore that says:
"It never was my thinking that made the big money for me. It always was my sitting. Got that? My sitting tight!"
So what was Livermore talking about here?
He was basically talking about two things:
1) Having the technical mastery to be able to identify big structural moves as they are happening; and
2) Having the emotional mastery to ride those structural moves to make the big money.
In fact, the quote attributed to Livermore also added:
"I've known many men who were right at exactly the right time, and began buying or selling stocks when prices were at the very level which should show the greatest profit. And their experience invariably matched mine--that is, they made no real money out of it. Men who can both be right and sit tight are uncommon.”
Along those lines, I wanted to share with you some data that helps expound on this concept.
On April 9th of 2025, Donald Trump paused his previously imposed tariffs.
That move sent stocks soaring as if they had been tightly coiled for a massive launch higher.
If you identified that MACRO opportunity then you knew the line of least resistance in the overall market was higher and you would have gotten aggressive with your portfolio.
Now...getting the macro picture right is critical to making big gains.
However, to make the really big money you also need to identify the correct SECTORS and top STOCKS within those sectors.
Then, you also needed to have the emotional mastery to be able to HOLD those stocks through the ups and downs of the structural move that follows.
As a swing trader, this is EXACTLY what I spend most of my time attempting to do. To recap:
1) Identify the line of least resistance in the overall market;
2) Identify asymmetrical risk and inflection points within sectors;
3) Identify the leading stocks within those sectors that may participate in a big structural move; and
4) Have the patience to manage the trade to benefit from the move that follows.
To be clear, developing BOTH the technical mastery to identify these trends AND the emotional mastery to participate in the big part of the moves is VERY uncommon.
In my estimation, it is these traits that help make up the 5% of elite traders that make big money in the markets.
The 5% of elite traders are also the ones that don't chase tons of stocks in different markets that do not offer the ideal set-up that they look for before getting aggressive.
Again, finding someone with BOTH the technical mastery and the patience/discipline not to over-trade is uncommon.
With all that in mind, I wanted to share a list of stocks that I follow that could have offered massive gains over the last year if you identified the correct sectors and individual stocks within those sectors that were ripe for a structural move.
PLEASE NOTE THAT I AM NOT SUGGESTING I BOUGHT ALL OF THESE STOCKS.
In fact, I did buy some of them but I missed A LOT of them.
I also held some of the ones I bought only for partial gains and missed the huge part of the structural move.
However, my studies have taught me the importance of emotional mastery and I am now taking advantage of the larger part of these moves and my portfolio is benefitting accordingly.
In addition, please note I am not suggesting this list is collectively exhaustive.
There are many other stocks that may have shown similar moves that I do not follow.
I am also NOT suggesting that finding these type of stocks is easy.
In fact, it takes hard work and many hours of study to identify the trends that can reap huge rewards.
That said, below is a list of stocks that could have made you big money in the last year if you were right AND able to sit tight.
Remember, it only takes a few well-managed campaigns to achieve elite, potentially life-altering returns.
Symbol. % Return
AAOI 551.1
ABVX 1,856.5
AEHR 465.3
ALM 352.0
ASTS 313.3
AXTI 3,353.6
BE 542.2
CAPR 229.7
CCJ 165.1
CECO 191.2
CIEN 588.8
CLS 258.0
COGT 515.6
COHR 282.2
CRML 403.0
DAWN 169.1
DNN 181.5
FEIM 212.8
FIX 314.0
FN 176.4
GEV 171.6
GLW 217.8
KOPN 172.9
LASR 644.1
LEU 190.8
LITE 1,137.5
LPTH 446.3
MOD 157.1
MU 313.4
NBIS 345.1
NXE 153.4
NXT 159.7
ONDS 764.9
RCUS 191.0
RLMD 2,206.9
ROIV 181.1
SNDK 1,371.8
SEPN 358.2
TE 255.1
TER 270.3
TERN 2,017.3
TTI 152.3
UAMY 273.0
UEC 188.1
UUUU 370.8
VIAV 223.3
VICR 220.4
VRT 238.9
WDC 606.01
