Just before June 2023, my broker account went up from -20% to 170% while I was sleeping. Ultimately, I was lucky and was riding on top of this AI bubble. However, I had zero idea at that moment, not until late August last year.
The beginning was January 2023, and my first win was in early February in Singapore, where I bought one call option on AAPL and was rewarded with a 480% profit (120$ from 25%). You may call it beginner’s luck, and it was true because soon I faced many losses, and my account was down 20% in May.
The first turning point was on 30th May 2023. When I woke up that day, NVDA went up 20% and was on the news. From a mere 120$, they went up over 4900% estimately 5900$ in total. The main reason was that I understood the importance of CUDA and NVIDIA GPUs. However, there are many additional factors on my success. First, I was having a bad flu and had to rest earlier for work due to the timezone. Second and most importantly, I let it go. I was down 20%, what more can I lose?
I must say this win was no coincidence. I often ask myself, if I was in the US or Canada, could I keep my options that day? NVDA was dropping the entire day before releasing its revenue report.
However, I had little knowledge of what I had to overcome in August 2023… It was not only a major turning point in my trading, but a pivot point in my life from 2013, when I went overseas.
That fateful night in late August 2023, what did I experience? Now, when I attempt to reminisce about it, I always learn something from a different perspective. I was overconfident about my trading and was punished by the world, or simply corrected.
The day before, I put in more than 2,000$ which was the most I had ever bet in a single trade. When I was entering my trades, I already made more than 100$ just by doing both sides. Then, I went to sleep as usual.
It was just a regular day for everyone, and I thought I was having profits never seen before. When the market started, my positions went down to $800 instantly, and before I could react, only $100 was left. In a few seconds, I lost more than 90%…
It took me quite a while to even accept the fact that I was wrong. The market crashed immediately at the start, and my positions were affected heavily. This was rather shocking for me, and I couldn’t do anything. I tried to do something, but all was in vain. Nothing worked.
At that moment, I felt like I finally met my true self. I may seem to be strong, but I was extremely vulnerable mentally. I kept thinking that the world was never friendly. Over the years, I repetitively rejected myself because I believed I wasn’t good enough. This mindset has been with me for as long as I can remember. However, that moment when I failed, I was finally truly free - free from the invisible cage I had kept myself in - and saw who I truly am deep inside.
I was wrong, and that’s all about it.
Deep down in the endless hole, I was greeted with the warmth of the world. I remembered how kind the world had been to me, all the great things life had brought to me, and everything I have given back to the world. I realized I wasn’t a failure at all; I was just myself, and nothing else mattered.
Nowadays, many people talk about AI. What they may not understand is that AI is merely a complex math equation. What’s more impressive is nothing but ourselves. AI can figure out complicated relationships between numbers, but they don’t comprehend anything. It is like a magical box, where you throw anything in and will receive something back which seems correct.
AI can never innovate, but we are different. Every day, we accumulate nutrients for that fateful moment when we surpass ourselves. A person can change dramatically at any second, that’s what makes us superior to a mere equation.
What matters the most is the people, it is everyone, it is you and all about you, and me, just myself.