[james4beach]

I think Rusty, lonewolf, MrBlackhill and some others here do some active trading and speculation. I've heard QQQ and TQQQ mentioned a few times.

For the active traders, can I ask, why don't you apply the same skills to TVIX instead? In a single day, you can get a decade worth of returns. TVIX is up 65% today and at one point was up 70%.

If it's so easy to trade QQQ and TQQQ, catching the bottoms and tops, then why not trade TVIX instead and get a full year of investing done in a few hours?

(Just to be clear, I would never in a million years do this myself, but that's because I have no ability to predict short term market direction nor volatility)

 

[MrBlackhill]

Hi,

First, before giving my first impressions and my opinion, I'm a new trader so I still have a lot to learn and a lot to make my mind about it. I've searched and read a lot in the past months, but still I feel like I know only 5% of what I want to know. Even though reading is good for self-education, it can't be compared to years of experience trading and that's why I wished I started a decade ago.

I must say I didn't know about TVIX, so I'm glad I discovered a new product, thanks. Actually, I knew about VIX index, but never thought of trading it. I knew about SQQQ though which is the reverse of TQQQ. I guess switching between TQQQ and SQQQ could work during these times of high volatility. I understand that TVIX is more about volatility while SQQQ is just the inverse of TQQQ, but volatility is pretty correlated with bearish markets, I suppose.

I'm trying to figure out the strategy... Let's say I bought TQQQ on November 2019 at 70$. Then, seeing the situation and with a little delay of reaction to grasp that it's truly going on a bearish trend, I could've sold TQQQ by the end of February 2020 at 90$ to stop losses and bought SQQQ at 20$ about the same day. Then maybe a stop-loss around 18$ would get me out of SQQQ by the end of March (no money made in March because of heavy volatility and high risk, not knowing what's the best option) and buying TQQQ at 50$. Now, I guess during the first week of April I wouldn't know if I should hold TQQQ or switch to SQQQ and I guess I would've taken another loss selling TQQQ at 40$ to avoid bigger losses in cases of a bearish trend. Then, I would've hold my money and maybe buy TQQQ again in mid-April at around 60$ and I guess I would still be holding it at the moment, even if this week was pretty bearish and I guess I would sell it if TQQQ were to go down to 75$.

So, let's see the P&L of this hypothetical scenario... which is an idealised scenario.

1. Bought at 70$, sold at 90$ = +28%
2. Bought at 20$, sold at 18$ = -10%
3. Bought at 50$, sold at 40$ = -20%
4. Bought at 60$, still holding at 80$, but would sell if reaching 75$ = +25%

Seems like it would achieve 15% P&L from November 2019 until now trying to be smarter than the volatility in the market.
If making the switch from SQQQ to TQQQ at 50$ seemed too risky, maybe I would've hold to my money and just buy at 60$, which would remove that -20% loss and end up with a 44% P&L.

Now let's say I just stick to TQQQ and I just hold to my money when it feels unsafe. Therefore, I also remove my switch from TQQQ to SQQQ at 20$, therefore only buying and selling TQQQ :

1. Bought at 70$, sold at 90$ = +28%
2. Bought back at 60%, still holding at 80$, but would sell if reaching 75$ = +25%

Seems like it would achieve 60% P&L.

Therefore, I think I would prefer playing the bull market only instead of trying to switch between bear and bull.

Now, even though this seems like a huge profit for only 8 months of hypothetical trading with only TQQQ, this scenario is still idealised.

Let's make a last scenario, trading only TQQQ again.

1. Bought at 70$, sold at 90$ = +28%
2. Bought back naively at 85$ at the beginning of March, thinking everything is under control with COVID and that the last drop was just a scared market and the effect of 3x QQQ
3. Then, I would be crying my life from March to June as TQQQ stays below 85$
4. Finally happy to see 95$ last week and still holding it thinking we are back on a good trend
5. Crying this week with TQQQ below 85$ again

Seems like it would achieve the initial 28% P&L while still holding my TQQQ in the red since March and currently being on the edge of what's coming next. It also means I would've not made any profit this year so far.

Now back to TVIX. It's riding even bigger P&L

1. Bought TQQQ at 70$, sold at 90$ = +28%
2. Bought TVIX at 100$ at the end of February, sold at 250$ in April = +150%
3. Bought at 60$, still holding at 80$, but would sell if reaching 75$ = +25%

Seems like that would achieve 300% P&L. Wow! But, what if I tried that in 2018 when it went bearish by the end of the year? I guess I would've sold around mid November to try my luck on the bear market with TVIX, thinking we're heading for a crash with high volatility, but November and December 2018 were both pretty chaotic, so I guess I would've end up losing money not really knowing what to do...

At the end, I feel like I would be gambling with TVIX and personally I don't want to take that risk even though TVIX seemed a great move for the 2020 crash.

I'm not that much into speculative bets. The more speculative is my move, the less money I invest in that buy. I'm more about being an opportunist. Take Canadian banks for example, the Big 6. I bought BMO.TO when it was in the low 60s in May. This is not a financial advice, but I'm personally pretty sure it's an easy bet on a guaranteed profit of at least 30%. It may take a year, but that would still be an annual return of 30%. If it takes longer, well I could just sell and take the current profit. I mean, even after this bloody week I'm already profitable by 15% in only a few weeks with that safe bet (in my opinion, please judge by yourself, this is not a financial advice). If the market crashes again and goes down in the 50s or lower, well I'll just have to wait longer, that's all, and maybe buy more! The Big 6 banks are not going anywhere, BMO has been there for TWO centuries and has been giving dividends for TWO centuries. If one of the Big 6 banks fails and cannot survive the COVID-19, then I think the whole Canadian economy will not survive the COVID-19... Again, this is my own opinion, I'm just a random guy who has absolutely no knowledge about how Canadian economy works, nor finances, nor banks.

 

[Topo]

With respect to volatility, the problem is that one has to time the trade perfectly to benefit from it. Volatility is notoriously difficult to trade directly, since there is no cash market for the VIX and it is all based on futures. The result is that instruments such as TVIX or UVIX have a steep decay built into them. One needs huge volatility spikes to break even in many cases.

The problem for TQQQ is that large down moves in the QQQ could devastate it. Recovery from a 90% drop could take years if not decades.

Trading itself, however, could work in certain circumstances. I don't think one can predict the tops and the bottoms, but that is not necessary for a profitable trade. Depending on one's assumptions, one could exploit trends like momentum or reversion to the mean, resulting in enough profitable trades to cancel any losses.

I should add that I make a clear distinction between trading and investing. They are separate activities with distinct goals and mindsets. One's retirement and financial well-being should not be put at more risk than is necessary.

 

[james4beach]

OK, maybe not trading volatility. But how about the QQQs -- it's certainly popular with the kids these days. TQQQ opened today around $81 and is now $86, which is a 6% rally over just a few hours.

Did anyone here catch that move?

Trading itself, however, could work in certain circumstances. I don't think one can predict the tops and the bottoms, but that is not necessary for a profitable trade. Depending on one's assumptions, one could exploit trends like momentum or reversion to the mean, resulting in enough profitable trades to cancel any losses.

I should add that I make a clear distinction between trading and investing. They are separate activities with distinct goals and mindsets. One's retirement and financial well-being should not be put at more risk than is necessary.

I agree, it's possible to trade. I personally don't have the skills to do it (I've tried and failed) but that's why I'm curious if others here are picking up these moves, like the opportunity in TQQQ today after the overnight futures crash.

And yes trading is not investing. RRSP and retirement savings should not be actively traded.

 

[james4beach]

TQQQ now up about 10% since today's open.

There you go, another full year worth of investment returns in a few hours. I can't trade these things, but many personalities on Youtube apparently can... just think of how rich they must be getting! And it's (apparently) so easy!


Disclaimer: this post is sarcastic, and I don't think a person can really harvest these kinds of gains reliably over the years, and I think many Youtube personalities are novices who haven't yet blown up. I think it may be possible to trade some trends and momentum, but for pretty small gains.

 

[MrBlackhill]

Exactly, we have to look at the ups and downs, not only the ups. I bought SCL.TO which went up +175% in a week. Since then, it's playing +30% and -30% per day. If I could time the market only on the ups, I would be rich. I didn't want to play casino on that one, so I just hold and I'm currently at +80%. I'm not sure I would be able to trade efficiently TQQQ because it's meant for day trading. One can buy and hold, but one crash like in the 2000s and everything is wiped with TQQQ. Actually, traders of TQQQ were lucky that the 2020 crash got them down only about -70% while QQQ was down about -30%, since TQQQ should be a 3x QQQ.

 

[Topo]

TQQQ would be a good trade today. Not so much on Thursday (from 91 to 83 i.e. -7.6%). SQQQ would have been a great trade on Thursday. You generally start with a set of assumptions and set up a trade that works toward them (long, short or neutral). The problem is that these assumptions are scientifically difficult to validate and patterns change over time. If you believe in the weak form of efficient market hypothesis, technical analysis is useless for trading.

Keep in mind that you would only have made 10% on your portfolio if you were completely invested in TQQQ. Unless it is a small portfolio, most only trade a small percentage in a single position, particularly one as volatile as TQQQ.

If I were going to day trade TQQQ, I would put a tight trailing stop on it. If, however, I were trading the QQQ, I would be willing to extend the trade if it went against me.

 

[james4beach]

If I were going to day trade TQQQ, I would put a tight trailing stop on it. If, however, I were trading the QQQ, I would be willing to extend the trade if it went against me.

If I suddenly stumbled into a huge amount of new money (unlikely), I may try some shorter term trading. I would start with purely paper trading for maybe 6 months before trying real money.

I think it's plausible one can do this, if you have a strict methodology and very good risk management. I would also want a backup, secondary brokerage in case the first one goes down and you need to synthetically close your trade.

An additional safeguard would be a trading buddy or informal partner: someone you meet with occasionally, perhaps over the internet. You would critique each others' approaches.

In addition, you would have to strictly monitor your performance, and perform your own annual reviews. Back when I tried doing my own trading, I had no clue that I was doing so badly. If I had been regularly comparing myself to benchmarks, I would have seen that it was a pointless endeavour.

These are the kinds of things the real trading houses do. It's not a just a free-for-all where a guy turns on the computer and starts trading. They communicate with other traders and bounce around ideas, plus they have excellent risk management. The institutions give a structure which helps protect the trader from their worst enemy... their own brains and limbic system.

 

[Topo]

If I suddenly stumbled into a huge amount of new money (unlikely), I may try some shorter term trading. I would start with purely paper trading for maybe 6 months before trying real money.

The most efficient way to trade indices is using futures (E-Minis, etc). They are very liquid and trade 23 hours a day. In my opinion, they are better than leveraged ETFs for trading.

 

[Rusty O'Toole]

Not familiar with the TVIX but have traded the VIX before. Good opportunities show up every few months to buy puts when it is extremely high. You want to buy them 2 or 3 months out because the VIX can stay elevated for quite a while. But I have made money doing this.

My methods are purely technical. I must say I am often scared to death when I get a technical signal because it goes against all common sense. For example who predicted in February that we were going to have the biggest fastest drop in stocks in the last 100 years? Then who predicted in March that the markets would recover in spite of the neutron bomb of Covid 19? Nobody that I know, it certainly surprised me. But the more I work with technical indicators the more confidence I have because they almost always turn out correct, while the news almost always steers me wrong.

Incidentally I got back into the TQQQ trade a few weeks ago (small) and got stopped out with a small profit last Thursday. Yesterday I got back in to the tune of 2000 shares at an average price of 85.9975, so far am up $15,605.10.

I like the TQQQ because it gives me moves I can really make money on, and it trends nicely for weeks and months. If you go back over the last few years you will see it gives regular opportunities to make 50% to 100% or more on your money and it does this 2 or 3 times a year. I find individual stocks too jumpy and unpredictable. A bit of news good or bad, or an unexpected earnings report can send a stock up or down and it never seems to be in my favor.

Please try to get over the fundamental approach or going by the news. This business of " let's see the economy is doing this and the federal reserve is doing that, and Murgatroyd Motors is coming out with a new electric car therefore I should buy Murgatroyd Motors and sell oil stocks short" bah phooey I never made any money that way and don't know anyone who has.

You also need to get out of the mind set that this is a business where you show up for work at 9:30 when the market opens and work hard all day buying and selling. Nothing could be farther from the truth. It is more like hunting where you go out most days and don't see a thing but every once in a while get a close up shot at a plump young deer that is right near the road. You can drop it with one shot dress it out and pack out the meat easily. Don't waste your ammunition on long shots. There are times when it is hard to make money and times when it is easy. I prefer to wait for the easy shots.

Now if I had enough money I wouldn't bother with any of this. I would buy dividend stocks and live on the 4% dividends - if I had $1,000,000 in my account, that would give me $50,000 a year. If I had $2,000,000 I could buy bonds or GICs and get my $50,000 @ 2%. But I don't have $2 million or even $1 million - yet.

I like the technical approach because it works for me.

 

[:) lonewolf]

My methods are purely technical. I must say I am often scared to death when I get a technical signal because it goes against all common sense. For example who predicted in February that we were going to have the biggest fastest drop in stocks in the last 100 years? Then who predicted in March that the markets would recover in spite of the neutron bomb of Covid 19? Nobody that I know, it certainly surprised me. But the more I work with technical indicators the more confidence I have because they almost always turn out correct, while the news almost always steers me wrong.

3 out of 3 market letters I have subscribed to predicted the market crash & recovery though I only subscribed to 2 of the 3 @ the time which are Arch Crawford & Elliott wave international The 3rd was Tim Wood Cycles man.com. Also Martin Armstrong has called every crash since & including 1987 also called the crash

 

[Rusty O'Toole]

Hi,

First, before giving my first impressions and my opinion, I'm a new trader so I still have a lot to learn and a lot to make my mind about it. I've searched and read a lot in the past months, but still I feel like I know only 5% of what I want to know. Even though reading is good for self-education, it can't be compared to years of experience trading and that's why I wished I started a decade ago.

I must say I didn't know about TVIX, so I'm glad I discovered a new product, thanks. Actually, I knew about VIX index, but never thought of trading it. I knew about SQQQ though which is the reverse of TQQQ. I guess switching between TQQQ and SQQQ could work during these times of high volatility. I understand that TVIX is more about volatility while SQQQ is just the inverse of TQQQ, but volatility is pretty correlated with bearish markets, I suppose.

I'm trying to figure out the strategy... Let's say I bought TQQQ on November 2019 at 70$. Then, seeing the situation and with a little delay of reaction to grasp that it's truly going on a bearish trend, I could've sold TQQQ by the end of February 2020 at 90$ to stop losses and bought SQQQ at 20$ about the same day. Then maybe a stop-loss around 18$ would get me out of SQQQ by the end of March (no money made in March because of heavy volatility and high risk, not knowing what's the best option) and buying TQQQ at 50$. Now, I guess during the first week of April I wouldn't know if I should hold TQQQ or switch to SQQQ and I guess I would've taken another loss selling TQQQ at 40$ to avoid bigger losses in cases of a bearish trend. Then, I would've hold my money and maybe buy TQQQ again in mid-April at around 60$ and I guess I would still be holding it at the moment, even if this week was pretty bearish and I guess I would sell it if TQQQ were to go down to 75$.

So, let's see the P&L of this hypothetical scenario... which is an idealised scenario.

1. Bought at 70$, sold at 90$ = +28%
2. Bought at 20$, sold at 18$ = -10%
3. Bought at 50$, sold at 40$ = -20%
4. Bought at 60$, still holding at 80$, but would sell if reaching 75$ = +25%

Seems like it would achieve 15% P&L from November 2019 until now trying to be smarter than the volatility in the market.
If making the switch from SQQQ to TQQQ at 50$ seemed too risky, maybe I would've hold to my money and just buy at 60$, which would remove that -20% loss and end up with a 44% P&L.

Now let's say I just stick to TQQQ and I just hold to my money when it feels unsafe. Therefore, I also remove my switch from TQQQ to SQQQ at 20$, therefore only buying and selling TQQQ :

1. Bought at 70$, sold at 90$ = +28%
2. Bought back at 60%, still holding at 80$, but would sell if reaching 75$ = +25%

Seems like it would achieve 60% P&L.

Therefore, I think I would prefer playing the bull market only instead of trying to switch between bear and bull.

Now, even though this seems like a huge profit for only 8 months of hypothetical trading with only TQQQ, this scenario is still idealised.

Let's make a last scenario, trading only TQQQ again.

1. Bought at 70$, sold at 90$ = +28%
2. Bought back naively at 85$ at the beginning of March, thinking everything is under control with COVID and that the last drop was just a scared market and the effect of 3x QQQ
3. Then, I would be crying my life from March to June as TQQQ stays below 85$
4. Finally happy to see 95$ last week and still holding it thinking we are back on a good trend
5. Crying this week with TQQQ below 85$ again

Seems like it would achieve the initial 28% P&L while still holding my TQQQ in the red since March and currently being on the edge of what's coming next. It also means I would've not made any profit this year so far.

Now back to TVIX. It's riding even bigger P&L

1. Bought TQQQ at 70$, sold at 90$ = +28%
2. Bought TVIX at 100$ at the end of February, sold at 250$ in April = +150%
3. Bought at 60$, still holding at 80$, but would sell if reaching 75$ = +25%

Seems like that would achieve 300% P&L. Wow! But, what if I tried that in 2018 when it went bearish by the end of the year? I guess I would've sold around mid November to try my luck on the bear market with TVIX, thinking we're heading for a crash with high volatility, but November and December 2018 were both pretty chaotic, so I guess I would've end up losing money not really knowing what to do...

At the end, I feel like I would be gambling with TVIX and personally I don't want to take that risk even though TVIX seemed a great move for the 2020 crash.

I'm not that much into speculative bets. The more speculative is my move, the less money I invest in that buy. I'm more about being an opportunist. Take Canadian banks for example, the Big 6. I bought BMO.TO when it was in the low 60s in May. This is not a financial advice, but I'm personally pretty sure it's an easy bet on a guaranteed profit of at least 30%. It may take a year, but that would still be an annual return of 30%. If it takes longer, well I could just sell and take the current profit. I mean, even after this bloody week I'm already profitable by 15% in only a few weeks with that safe bet (in my opinion, please judge by yourself, this is not a financial advice). If the market crashes again and goes down in the 50s or lower, well I'll just have to wait longer, that's all, and maybe buy more! The Big 6 banks are not going anywhere, BMO has been there for TWO centuries and has been giving dividends for TWO centuries. If one of the Big 6 banks fails and cannot survive the COVID-19, then I think the whole Canadian economy will not survive the COVID-19... Again, this is my own opinion, I'm just a random guy who has absolutely no knowledge about how Canadian economy works, nor finances, nor banks.

I think it was me who called attention to the TQQQ as a trading vehicle. In case you are not familiar with my methods I laid them out in this thread anyone making any serious money..... Have described the same thing before. I use the TTM Squeeze, RSI and moving averages, in that order. I go by the daily chart but watch the one minute chart when trading .

If you followed this method you would have been stopped out of the TQQQ with a profit when it plunged in February, having gotten into the trade last October. You would have got back in in March and still be in the same trade unless you got stopped out last week. October - February the total move was 54.91-118.8 or 116.35%. March to now, 38.27-99.22 or 207.46%. I'm not saying you could have caught all of both moves, I certainly didn't. But what if you caught half?

I have never played the short side but if I did, I would just short the TQQQ. Maybe I will try it next time I get a red signal.

Later... If you had caught just half of the two moves since last October here is what it would look like. First move, up 58% second move up 103%. In other words a $1000 would have turned into $1580 which would have turned into $3207. Not bad for eight months.

 

[Rusty O'Toole]

3 out of 3 market letters I have subscribed to predicted the market crash & recovery though I only subscribed to 2 of the 3 @ the time which are Arch Crawford & Elliott wave international The 3rd was Tim Wood Cycles man.com. Also Martin Armstrong has called every crash since & including 1987 also called the crash

Are you making money investing by their predictions?

 

[Rusty O'Toole]

If I suddenly stumbled into a huge amount of new money (unlikely), I may try some shorter term trading. I would start with purely paper trading for maybe 6 months before trying real money.

I think it's plausible one can do this, if you have a strict methodology and very good risk management. I would also want a backup, secondary brokerage in case the first one goes down and you need to synthetically close your trade.

An additional safeguard would be a trading buddy or informal partner: someone you meet with occasionally, perhaps over the internet. You would critique each others' approaches.

In addition, you would have to strictly monitor your performance, and perform your own annual reviews. Back when I tried doing my own trading, I had no clue that I was doing so badly. If I had been regularly comparing myself to benchmarks, I would have seen that it was a pointless endeavour.

These are the kinds of things the real trading houses do. It's not a just a free-for-all where a guy turns on the computer and starts trading. They communicate with other traders and bounce around ideas, plus they have excellent risk management. The institutions give a structure which helps protect the trader from their worst enemy... their own brains and limbic system.

I admit I am nuts and don't see things the way everyone else does. But I have found something that works for me. I agree whole heartedly about paper trading first, and how it would be nice to have a buddy to talk to. I have gotten some valuable information off the internet and thought I might give something back. What I am doing seems simple to me, much simpler than some other methods I have tried but it took me a long time to get there. I know that no two people see things the same way and what works for one person might be poison to the next. I would advise anyone to stick with what works for them, I know my methods are not for everybody.

 

[MrBlackhill]

I think it was me who called attention to the TQQQ as a trading vehicle. In case you are not familiar with my methods I laid them out in this thread anyone making any serious money..... Have described the same thing before. I use the TTM Squeeze, RSI and moving averages, in that order. I go by the daily chart but watch the one minute chart when trading .

If you followed this method you would have been stopped out of the TQQQ with a profit when it plunged in February, having gotten into the trade last October. You would have got back in in March and still be in the same trade unless you got stopped out last week. October - February the total move was 54.91-118.8 or 116.35%. March to now, 38.27-99.22 or 207.46%. I'm not saying you could have caught all of both moves, I certainly didn't. But what if you caught half?

I have never played the short side but if I did, I would just short the TQQQ. Maybe I will try it next time I get a red signal.

Later... If you had caught just half of the two moves since last October here is what it would look like. First move, up 58% second move up 103%. In other words a $1000 would have turned into $1580 which would have turned into $3207. Not bad for eight months.

And does that represent your average over the years? I mean, are you able to consistently average a yearly +40% or more? When looking at the last decade bull run, since some stocks can average a +25% over 5-10 years, since QQQ can average +20% over 5-10 years and since TQQQ can average +35% over 5-10 years, I guess that as an active trader you are working on beating those numbers. And averaging +40% over a decade with initial amount of 15 000$, adding only 500$ a month would make you a millionaire by now.

 

[Rusty O'Toole]

I've only been doing this type of trade for 2 years and so far have been trading small. Now I have confidence in what I am doing because I have proven it works by actual experience and am trading bigger. For example I bought 2000 shares of TQQQ yesterday @ 85.995 and as of this minute am up $13005.10. Will it keep going up? Will it drop and will I get stopped out with a loss? It has happened before but 3 out of 4 trades are winners and the winners are larger than the losers.

So far I am up over $30,000 for the year all on this one trade and that includes LOSSES on my conservative, dividend paying stocks like CVS. My present position is the largest I have had, the others were a hundred, five hundred or 1000 shares. Even now I am risking less than 2% of my portfolio.

If this kind of trading is of interest to you, prove to yourself if I am lying. You can't do it because I am telling the truth. Get a chart of TQQQ with the indicators I suggest, go back over the last few years and see for yourself. Back test it, paper trade it, watch the market for the next six months or two years and prove to yourself if it works or not. Try it with other stocks, ETFs, indices or what you like. Don't take my word for it. I don't want you, or anyone to just copy my trades. That always ends in dis disaster. If I give specifics of my trades it is for illustration and to prove I put my money where my mouth is. This is not some theory, I have been working on this for several years now and if I have confidence in it, it is because I have proven it to myself. I don't expect anyone to take my word for it. Let me answer your questions, give you the information, then you have to study it and decide if it works for you.

 

[fireseeker]

Now if I had enough money I wouldn't bother with any of this. I would buy dividend stocks and live on the 4% dividends - if I had $1,000,000 in my account, that would give me $50,000 a year. If I had $2,000,000 I could buy bonds or GICs and get my $50,000 @ 2%. But I don't have $2 million or even $1 million - yet.

I bought 2000 shares of TQQQ yesterday @ 85.995 and as of this minute am up $13005.10. ... I am risking less than 2% of my portfolio.

I appreciate your willingness to share strategy, Rusty. But you've lost me with the math.
Two thousand TQQQ shares is almost $200,000. If that's 2% of your portfolio ...

 

[Rusty O'Toole]

I said I was RISKING less than 2% of my portfolio. I have a stoploss order in at 78, just below support. That represents a possible max loss on the trade of 85.995 - 78 X 2000 = $15,990.00 which is less than 2%. I am not happy about such a large risk and will raise the stop as soon as possible, in fact I think I will raise it to 80 before the open tomorrow, and to my break even point by the end of the week.
I don't blame you for being sceptical but don't try to pick holes in me, pick holes in what I am telling you. I don't ask you to believe me. Look at the charts, get used to the indicators, and see what you see. Prove to yourself if I am telling the truth. If you need any help downloading Think or Swim or setting up the charts just ask and I will help if I can.

 

[Machu Picchu]

I have made some small gains by playing with TQQQ. To explain TQQQ, someone had used an analogy of borrowing money from bank for a house (a leveraged investment). Similarly TQQQ is a 3x leveraged ETF tracking the NASDAQ 100 Index, or roughly 3x QQQ. Because you are utilizing someone else's money to achieve your gain, you get a better return. However I do have to point out that TQQQ has decay. So you all see that qqq has already made its new highs but TQQQ is still below the all time high. We are lucky that the US stock market has been bullish, especially with the help of Mr. Trump.
With regard to Think or Swim, you can trade with Thick or swim platform if you have an option account with TD. You also need to deposit at least US$25000 in the account. The platform can perform the automatic scan for any stocks that are in red dots. I am in the process of getting the platform but I still don't have a reliable system in tracking the momentum of stocks yet (need more practice).

 

[james4beach]

Aren't you guys worried about getting wiped out while holding TQQQ long?

It was only a few weeks ago when the index crashed 10% in a single day. I think it's possible for QQQ to crash perhaps 20% to 30% in a day, at some point.

If that happens while you're long TQQQ, there would be a drawdown of something like 60% to 90%. During such incredibly volatile periods, brokerages and market quotes can often become unstable and make it impossible to trade... leaving you trapped long. I've only been investing for 20 years and already I've seen a handful of days like this, when it was impossible to get a trade fill, for example, the brokerages can't get quotes, so they stop routing orders, or there is no order matching on the exchanges in practice.

The leveraged ETFs of the TQQQ style have mandatory daily rebalancing. That means that they lock in those enormous gains, since their mandate is to track single day movements.

In this scenario, your losses would likely be unrecoverable as TQQQ will force you to lock in the losses at the day end rebalance.