SpeedyStud wrote a post · Jan 2 07:11

Year End Reflection

Hey everyone! I’m Speedy—just a chill, “casual” trader from Canada. Hope you’re all having an awesome 2024 so far! If you wanna join our server here is the link : Join the server Trader’s Tavern with us

For me, this year’s been a wild ride—I got way more into trading (and maybe snacked a little too much along the way, haha). I’ve been pretty active in the US market and picked up a ton of lessons.

But honestly, December? Hands down the craziest and most exciting month for me. So yeah, that’s what this post is all about!

Quick flex—I’m up around 350% this year, with 288% of that just in December alone.

Here’s how I pulled it off!

First off—what I’m about to share is absolutely crazy, so if you’re not cool with high-risk moves, maybe dont follow what I did.

Over the summer, I spent a lot of time paper trading and testing out different strategies. By the end of summer, I was averaging around rank 100, which felt pretty solid.

One big takeaway? I realized I do way better trading with big capital for small percentage gains, instead of spreading my money across a bunch of stocks and hoping one takes off.

I officially jumped into live trading with my actual account in September. Before that, I made sure to set up rules based on what I learned during paper trading.

Here are my rules:

– No panic selling. Stay calm.

– Do thorough research before buying. No more 3-minute searches and impulse buys.

– Sell when the target is hit. No getting greedy.

– Don’t follow the crowd if you’re not sold on what the company’s doing.

Simple rules, but they’ve kept me on track!

Alright here we go.

Back in September, I went all-in on $Broadcom (AVGO.US)$ after it dropped following earnings and a stock split. I was tuned into the earnings call and felt like the sell-off was more about fear than facts. It seemed like people were using the split as an excuse to bail. So, on September 7, I jumped in and bought $Broadcom (AVGO.US)$ . By September 12, it hit my target price of 165, triggering my limit order. Boom—20% gain just like that!

At this point, I was still testing out my strategy of trading big capital for small percentage gains, so locking in a profit on my first real trade? Felt pretty damn good!

Next up, I jumped into $CrowdStrike (CRWD.US)$ on September 26. I dug into the charts, news, comments, and options sentiment, and I had a strong feeling it was gearing up for a solid boost leading into earnings on November 26. But here’s the thing—it dipped right after I bought in, and yeah, I’ll admit I started to panic a bit. Still, I stuck to my rule—no panic selling—because I had done my research and felt confident it could recover to its pre-July crash levels. And guess what? It did. I sold all my shares on October 11 when it hit 320, locking in about a 12% gain. Not bad at all!

I was feeling pretty good after that $CrowdStrike (CRWD.US)$ trade—totally unaware of what was coming next.

On October 15, I saw news about $ASML Holding (ASML.US)$ and, without fully understanding what was going on, I dove into research. But while I was digging, the stock started climbing, and... I panicked. This was the first time I broke one of my rules—I panic bought. Ended up grabbing shares on October 25 at 720 without having a clear plan. And, of course, it dipped right after. I instantly regretted it. But with uni piling on assignments, I decided to just leave it and focus on other things. Still, I couldn’t help checking it every day... and it just kept hovering between 650–680, making me second-guess myself constantly. Luckily, by December 2, it clawed its way back up to 710–715. That was a huge relief!

By December 2, I noticed the quantum wave was starting to heat up. I had some extra cash lying around, so I jumped into $Rigetti Computing (RGTI.US)$ —and boom! It shot up 100% from that leftover cash. Meanwhile, $ASML Holding (ASML.US)$ was still hanging around 710, so I decided to sell and move on. (Mainly because of the future outlook—since they’re still doing a lot of business with China, and tariffs could seriously cut into their profits.)

After doing some more research on quantum tech, I realized most people hadn’t even heard of $Rigetti Computing (RGTI.US)$ , which made me feel like the rally wasn’t over yet. So, on December 11, I went all-in—my average jumped from 3 to 6.7. Then the next day? Huge dip—-19%—which had a lot of people panicking. But not me. I stuck it out and decided to just hold and see what played out. By December 16, I was ready to sell... but forgot to set my order because I was busy with an exam. Ended up putting in a limit order at 9.9 the next day, December 17, and it got hit easily.

Then came December 18— $Quantum (QMCO.US)$ shot up 100%, and I caught it right as it hit 98%. Even though it had nothing to do with quantum tech, I still believed in what the company was doing and felt the quantum hype was just getting started. So I jumped in and quickly sold when it hit 150% (around $60). My target hit, and I was out of that position with a solid win! (After spotting $Rigetti Computing (RGTI.US)$ on December 2, I started tracking every stock related to quantum. That’s how I noticed $Quantum (QMCO.US)$ early on. Since I added everything to my watchlist, I made sure to research each company thoroughly. So by the time everyone else caught on, I already knew what each company did and had a good handle on their financial health.)

Just when I was on a hot streak, I made a rookie mistake and jumped into $KULR Technology (KULR.US)$ right at market open—literally at its peak. Yep, I broke my own rule again. But to be fair, I did my research and really believed it had a solid future. Unfortunately, after the open, it just kept dropping... Went from 3 to 2 by the end of the day. And the next day? Still dropping. I panicked and sold—huge regret. Of course, after I sold, it bounced back big time. Classic. Luckily, I went back into $Rigetti Computing (RGTI.US)$, covered my losses, and even pulled in some extra gains. Ended up selling everything on December 24.

By this point, I was already up almost 200% in one month—totally insane!

After that, I jumped into $SEALSQ Corp (LAES.US)$ because I really believe in what quantum-safe encryption can do. With quantum tech advancing, I figured most companies are going to need it sooner or later.

And wow—just one trading day later, it shot up over 60%! Since I was actively trading that day, I sold and re-bought on the dips, stacking up gains. By the end of the day, I think I was up 80–90% just from that one move.

Now, wrapping up the year, I’m sitting at around 350% total gains—and 288% of that came from this crazy quantum month alone.

Looking back at all this, I just realized... I basically made someone’s yearly salary in the span of one month. But honestly? The risk I took was completely insane—definitely not great for my mental health, lol.

So now I have learned and be more ready for the years that coming. Do not panic and Set up my target.