Chris’ note: Volatility is back with a bang. Since its peak last month, the tech-heavy Nasdaq is down 7%. U.S. stock market bellwether the S&P 500 is falling, too. Even typically bullish outlets such as The Wall Street Journal are starting to sound the alarm.
That’s why I want to make sure you have a special event on your radar. Tomorrow, at 8 p.m. ET, trading legend Larry Benedict will reveal a strategy he’s been using personally for decades. It’s a way to trade these volatile markets for outsized gains… while strictly limiting your downside risk. All using just one ticker.
Make sure to reserve your spot for his free event right here. Then read on to learn how Larry managed to go 21 years without having a losing one.
Q&A With Larry Benedict, Editor, The Opportunistic Trader
Chris Lowe: Your trading record is legendary. Between 1990 and 2010, you didn’t have a single losing year. It earned you a place in the 2012 book Hedge Fund Market Wizards. You were featured in Chapter 3. Chapter 2 featured Ray Dalio, the manager of the world’s largest hedge fund.
As the book’s author, Jack Schwager, put it, you’re one of America’s most prolific moneymakers. You’ve profited to the tune of $1 million on 509 separate occasions. And in 2008, as the financial world was falling apart, your hedge fund made $95 million.
To say you’re cautious as a trader is an understatement. You place huge importance on managing your downside risk.
Larry: That’s right. I’ve managed hundreds of traders in my career. I always asked them the same question: What makes a great trader?
The answer is discipline.
I was net profitable for two decades. There are few traders who can make that claim. And there’s a reason: I’ve always made sure I never let my trading account go too far below zero.
Chris: How do you make sure you never go too far into the red?
Larry: I use what are known as “stop-loss orders.” Once a trade goes against me… I’m out. If my account is down more than 2% month-to-date on any day, I clear out all my trades… take a break… and start again.
[A stop-loss order is an order you place with a broker to sell a specific stock once it reaches a certain price. It’s a way to automatically limit your loss on a trade.]
What I learned early on is you can make a lot of trades. So you don’t have to let one trade define you. If a trade goes against you… that’s fine. You can just move on to the next one. There’ll be other opportunities. I’ve often made 100 trades in a single day.
Put another way, I learned to accept losses. And I learned to keep them small. Knowing that any one trade doesn’t have to be the only trade… and accepting being wrong… is key.
Chris: In your trading advisory, The Opportunistic Trader, you talk about “earning your risk.” What does that mean?
Larry: It means you shouldn’t take on much risk until you’ve had a string of smaller winners. When you do that, you build a pile of capital you can speculate with.
But if you don’t have a big enough base of capital, you shouldn’t take on any high-risk trades. You should be targeting only 5%… 10%… 25% returns… and grabbing these smaller wins when you can. Same goes if you’re just not trading well, for whatever reason. You want to cut your risk as much as possible.
You never go broke taking a profit. That’s why I say you should always look to put a “P” on the page. Once you’ve built a strong foundation of capital, you’ve earned the ability to take on more risk.
I made big mistakes early on in my career. It cost me all my money on several occasions. One silly mistake was making bets with too big a lump of capital.
Here’s what I’d tell your readers who are thinking of taking up trading…
You should always stick with an amount you feel comfortable with. In other words, you should feel comfortable potentially losing 100% of the money you risk on each trade.
Early in my career, I bet too much on risky trades… and got wiped out. After a few times doing that, I began trading smaller amounts. But once I got further into my career… and I’d built enough of a cash pile from my trading wins… I began to make some larger, riskier trades with higher potential returns.
Chris: That’s not the way most people approach trading. They want to knock the lights out on every trade.
Larry: I’ve known a number of traders who ended up committing suicide or losing their homes. They had a gambler’s – not a trader’s – mentality. When they were losing, they were always looking for that one trade that would make it all back.
You can start out being a small trader… and then become an experienced trader who makes bigger bets. The common mistake new traders make is thinking there’s some easy shortcut to success. They get frustrated. They quit because they haven’t succeeded overnight.
You can develop an edge as a trader. But it takes time. I developed my edge over nearly four decades.
Chris: What can readers do to boost their odds of success?
Larry: First, find a mentor. Someone like me, who’s been at this a long time and can teach you the fundamentals of trading.
Next, learn not to spread your focus too wide. Rather than try to trade every stock in the market, pick just a handful and get to know them inside and out. Tom Brady isn’t training to become the next major-league baseball pitcher. He’s a seven-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback because football is what he lives and breathes.
Finally, stay disciplined. Earn your risk. Build up a cash pile with smaller, lower-risk trades… and swing for the fences only when you know you can afford to take a loss if you’re wrong.
Chris: Do you see any setups for home runs in today’s market environment?
Larry: There’s something coming up soon that I’m very excited about. It’s a phenomenon I call the “7-Day Blitz.” It’s a time of rampant volatility. During this period an estimated $1.2 trillion changes hands… all in the span of just seven days.
Not a lot of people know about it. It’s hardly covered by the financial mainstream media. But it’s possible to make more in one week than many do in an entire year. Not long ago, I made $45 million for my clients by trading during the 7-Day Blitz.
Even better, you can do it while minimizing your risk and increasing your odds of success – all by trading just one ticker.
And the 7-Day Blitz window is approaching fast. I won’t go into all the details here. But tomorrow at 8 p.m. ET during my free online event, I’ll reveal my strategy – along with the ticker – and how it could set you up for an early retirement. So sign up here and make sure you don’t miss it.