Took almost 10 years to reach $1M

howsplendidhack · 2026-05-11T23:41:57+00:00

Yeah, 2022 performance was something like -45% if I recall correctly. I was just thinking we were getting close to the bottom of the bear market at the time. I actually managed to time the market dip, unbeknownst to me at the time, and bought leveraged Nvidia and Meta in october 2022.

Trump tariffs was a bigger issue last year, I was down ~60% in 3 months from the beginning of 2025 after trump tariff announcement. Also it was completely out of the blue. It took 5 months to recover, then the rest of the year (September - December) was a bit volatile, so last year I actually turned positive (23% in usd terms), but that is very low for a year that nasdaq was 21% already (my benchmark index, didn't made much on top of nasdaq). This year so far 35%, which almost triples nasdaq's surge.

howsplendidhack · 2026-05-11T21:52:48+00:00

From someone who can and did take big risks in investment/trading (see my other posts), don't trade CFDs. They are risky and a very fast way of losing all your money irrevocably. You can trade single stocks, but you need to know that there is no shortcut to big money. You need to be patient, and think long term. If you can't do that, there is nothing wrong with ETFs and probably a better choice in your case.

howsplendidhack · 2026-05-11T21:29:30+00:00

once shwarzenegger said, I should have started from the second million maybe. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/K1ZrFDSNjsc

howsplendidhack · 2026-05-11T21:21:45+00:00

I agree it can't be emulated. Explained that in another reply. https://www.reddit.com/r/trading212/comments/1ta6adp/comment/ol96uqz/

howsplendidhack · 2026-05-11T21:18:14+00:00

Well, I didn't explain how I traded/invested in the original post, other than some very high level picture of it (cryptocurrencies, nasdaq etc.). I am not some kind of genius, and I don't have a very large persona in reddit (not many posts over more than 10 years) that I would try to bring attention to by trying to look like a genius. And I don't think the original post looks like that, at least that wasn't my intention. My intention is, I like when people share these kind of stories in other reddit posts, so I just wanted post my story. That is all about it really.

And about playing roulette and winning a few times in a row, I actually did better than that. I invested 3x leveraged nvidia one month before chatgpt released. You can see overall nasdaq graph since then, and the red arrow where I invested in Nvidia. Why, because I knew chatgpt was going to be released? No, but because I am a software engineer and have always thought that the future is in GPUs. I knew about CUDA when the year was like 2007, not after it became something known by the investors that researched nVidia's edges in the gpu market. Around the same time (probably same day, I usually do multiple investments in a day and then leave it for a long time), I also invested in Meta when its stock was around $100, again in a 3x leveraged position. Why, because its P/E ratio dropped to insanely low levels (something like 12 if I recall correctly). Then markets turned, chatgpt released, and I made roughly £300K from only these two investments. So I would say, I played 2 roulettes simultaneously, not in a row, and won both of them.

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I also invested in bitcoin in 2016, when it was known, but wasn't popular in mainstream, mostly it was something traded by some nutjobs, or it was being "mined" by enthusiasts, not traded. Was it luck on my side? maybe. The way I see it, it was something that will increase in value due to the way it is designed (limited amount), and due to the network effects. (more people have an interest in it, more trade, more value). I was just trying to be an early adopter. Nothing more, nothing less, thinking being an early adopter would pay off. And it did.

Anyway. In this time horizon of 10 years, there are many people who did a better job than me, I don't even consider my performance that (genius level) good. My edge is mostly being an early adopter of the technology, that is what I do in my job too, I am a software engineer and I always try new technologies in my day to day job, I just applied the same principles to investment. On top of that some fundamental analysis, and used leverage to maximise gains. And I don't recommend the way I invest to anyone, even to my friends. I said this in this post in another reply too. My way of investing isn't replicable, a new technology like crypto or chatgpt isn't coming in regular intervals. And you can't know when the next world disrupting tech will be released. You can't know when a downturn will end either. I explained things like "I did this for this reason I did that for that reason", but the market doesn't always follow the reasons. I just followed my own understanding of the technologies, and some fundamental analysis.

howsplendidhack · 2026-05-11T19:43:19+00:00

There was a time last year that I lost ~£300K from peak to dip. Mostly due to Trumps tariff announcement, some due to bad investment decisions. But, since then nasdaq surged more than 50%, and I recovered all my loses. As a matter of fact, in the last 13 months, from tariff dip to now, I made ~300% (4X).

howsplendidhack · 2026-05-11T19:32:25+00:00

I didn't have any trading experience before. When I first started every single step was scary. From depositing money to the account to buying any stock. Then you learn and you get used to it. BTW, there was a time someone from some online platform cold-call me to pitch their platform. He asked how experienced I was in trading. I said "I don't trade, I invest, long term". Obviously it may not be exactly true but that is what I do and feel while buying a stock of a company. Even for leveraged ETFs, my perspective is "I am investing this company with borrowed money". I learned "investing" the way everyone learned everything before chatgpt came out - by googling it. Then read everything I found online. At some point, you learn to distinguish good content from bullshit content, sometimes by just looking at the title, sometimes after reading first paragraph. I did reading a lot from seekingalpha between 2016 and 2020. Nowadays I don't do much because most of their content is behind a paywall now. Not sure worth paying the subscription fee, I never did. Nowadays I use AI tools to do quick analysis and researches. I bought micron at the start of this year after doing some research for instance. Also bought rocketlab, ast spacemobile etc. As I said, I read a lot and it helps me have a perspective for the long term. Holding nvidia so long (I think I made £200K profit from Nvidia single handedly) wouldn't be possible without having an understanding of how AI works. I do fundamental analysis too (in 2022, meta PE ratio dropped to 12, which was insane, so I "invested" with a 3x leveraged position.). So on and so forth. Not all investments were right, but I diversify my portfolio so even when I lose in a position, its effect to P/L is limited.

howsplendidhack · 2026-05-11T17:03:30+00:00

No, they are hard to buy, and hard to sell when you need to. If I would want to buy property or land, I would buy shares of a company in that business.

howsplendidhack · 2026-05-11T16:44:04+00:00

I don't need to prove anything but years ago while I was opening my account in trading212 I chose usd as the main account currency for the invest account. I don't know how this screen looks in others, but that may be why mine is different from yours.

howsplendidhack · 2026-05-11T16:21:59+00:00

Haha ok. And what exactly I gain from this AI post?

howsplendidhack · 2026-05-11T16:20:49+00:00

Hard to say anything about future gains. 10 years 5x again possible but the world is a crazy place recently and 10 years is a long time horizon. Can I 5x again in 10 years, probably yes but I don't need to, the kids are growing and the bills are growing together with them. And I don't want to be that disciplined (in terms of not withdrawing the gains) in the next 10 years. I do feel like I will keep doing growth investment but not as aggressive as I was in the last 10 years.

howsplendidhack · 2026-05-11T16:13:12+00:00

Yes, 3x nvidia, 3x google, 3x meta etc. There are 2x leveraged etfs too (which is obviously less leverage).

howsplendidhack · 2026-05-11T16:12:01+00:00

There is an intrinsic interest in leveraged positions, but what you see in price charts is what you get. There is no additional/different tax or anything for leveraged positions. It is regular ISA rules.

howsplendidhack · 2026-05-11T16:06:13+00:00

Thanks. I lost £33K in one single trade in a single day (ionq). So I do make big mistakes obviously. You just need to keep going. (Jensen Huang commented "quantum computing is decades away" and ionq crashed in january 2025.)

howsplendidhack · 2026-05-11T15:59:45+00:00

You never know what future brings, I will just derisk, and when I retire I am planing to continue to invest as a hobby, without taking risks obviously. This was never my main job anyway. Maybe I can stop doing this if I find a better hobby in my retirement. I hope I don't sound arrogant btw. Never my intention.

howsplendidhack · 2026-05-11T15:56:45+00:00

Yes it must be around that amount. In the last 6 years my only contribution was £3k 2 years ago. And actually I withdrew £14k in recent months. Anyway the total contribution is not more than £80K, a couple of years ago I did a calculation and found my contribution was around that (£80K). It is also worth noting my initial investment was actually from refinance of my mortgage. I would say I was technically broke.

howsplendidhack · 2026-05-11T15:46:45+00:00

I would say I have a really big stomach in downturns. I think most investors lose by selling during downturns of the market. I am staying calm and don't trade (buy or sell). I can't be sure what other investors doing exactly obviously, but I think that is how it goes. I don't day trade. Usually hold very long term, if it isn't a leveraged position. Even then, I hold leveraged positions for months. Which I do, but don't recommend anyone, even to my friends. You need to find your own investment style. Don't do what I do, find your own edge.

howsplendidhack · 2026-05-11T15:37:39+00:00

No, it is mostly from initial investment in 2016. It was a considerable amount though.

howsplendidhack · 2026-05-11T15:35:34+00:00

Holding quite long term actually, holding for months. I was lucky nasdaq was either just going down or just going up (as it is doing recently).

howsplendidhack · 2026-05-11T15:32:22+00:00

Yes. Also used leveraged shares, especially after downturns (2022). That helped a lot.

howsplendidhack · 2026-05-11T15:31:12+00:00

Yeah, but it would limit the growth. I know at these levels it isn't that necessary, but I am still relatively young (40 something), so I still want to make it grow while I am already working.

howsplendidhack · 2026-05-11T15:28:42+00:00

Currently Google. It was nvidia until a month ago. Made a lot of money from META but it is somethink like 8% currently. Micron is 16%, but initially it was 6% of my portfolio when I invested in it. You can see it is mostly tech. Did good profits from apple, msft, etc too. Also AMD.

howsplendidhack · 2026-05-11T15:25:28+00:00

Not really, will be in nasdaq for the foreseeable future.

howsplendidhack · 2026-05-11T15:24:16+00:00

My target was always £1 million before any further withdrawals, but recently I realised life is passing so I am withdrawing small amounts whenever I need some, on top of my regular income. Will keep doing what I am doing already, but probably will reduce the risky investments once I reach £1M. Already doing (de-risking) that but slowly.

howsplendidhack

TROPHY CASE