30% Daily Returns.

First, I never say "never."

Instead, I always ask myself; "How could that happen?" "How could that be?" "What
if that were true? What would have to be in place to do that?"

Thus, my quest began.

Traditional trading realizes returns of maybe 5% a year, more or less, possibly a

little more.

In fact, over 90% of all traders lose money.

At least, that has been my experience since I started in the area of financance and
investments.

Making money was hard and making profit as a trader was even harder, outpacing the
gain in the Dow
was a rare feat and those who consistently did so were considered amazing by their
peers. Or,
sometimes just plainn lucky, like me a couple of times.

A couple years before the pandemic, I came across a realm of trading that promised
returns of
10% a month or a week or even daily!

I was skeptical, but I had to look into.

These returns all were in the crypto market which I knew nothing about at the time.

These claims seemed truly outrageous as the tag team of Warren Buffet and Charlie
Munger have
become famous for their average sustained returns of over 30% year after year for a
period of over 30 years.

10% a month! Not possible. A week, a day! Incredible. Pure fiction.

So I thought.

But, as I stated, I had to look into it.

I found these returns were the result of "yield farms" (etc.) where people "stake"
(lock up) a particular
crypto coin for a certain period of time.

As dug into this area, I quickly discovered that the majority of the claims being
made offering such outrageous
returns were frauds, scams and ponzi schemes. Yet, there were a few legitimate
organizations that seemed to generate
high returns.

How did they do it?

I had to find out.

The process of discovery that entailed led me through a world I did not know
existed - trading on the blockchain.
Here, huge trades could be made between online exchanges where coins were offered
for sale - or to lend - at
differing prices by engaging with "smart contracts," self-executing coded documents
existing on the blockchain
that were verified by the consensus mechanism of the blockchain itself.

(Explain what a smart contract is, how it works and why it is secure because of
"consensus").

By buying, or borrowing, large quantities of coin from one exchange where they were
offered at a low price and then
selling them on a different exchange at a higher price, substantial gains could be
attained on the original invested capital.

And this could all transpire in just a few minutes. Rinse. Repeat. Several times a
day.

So I decided to study the coding behind this phenomena which made all this
possible.

As I applied myself to master - well, understand - this coding, it suddenly struck

me: the greatest offerings were being made
not by sources who were more adept at trading, but by those who were more adept at
coding!

What I realized was that high trading returns could be generated, not by having
better skill at trading but by having better
skill at coding. This divided the result of the trade from the actual trade itself.
The trade became just a mechanism to
engage the code.

This reversed the traditional trading process: utilize a system to conduct a trade.
This "system" could be a single person,
a trading house or institutional entity or the algorithms they employ. The trade
then would generate the return.

Now the process is: utilize a trade to engage the system. The system produces the
results - and these results can be hard coded
in advance.

The returns were a result of the code being engaged, not a result of the profit or
loss of the trade.

This can only be accomplished when someone "owns" both "ends" of a trade, i.e. the
asset being traded and the mechanism
doing the trading.

In the crypto world, the "mechanism" is the smart contract that someone (or some
"thing") coded.

So, in crypto, the trick becomes not how to generate high returns, it is
distinguishing between honest and legitimate operators, (few)
and scammers - many.

You can read this article to distinguish between scammers and honest people.

My final thoughts are these: If your gut says "No" don't do it, regardless of what
anyone says (including me). If it sounds too good to be true, in most cases, it
probably is, except maybe in crypto, but even here, if you can't verify it, don't
do it, stay away.

And, of course, wherever and in whatever market or financial instrument you decide
to invest, never invest more than you can afford to lose.

And always remember this: Past performance does not guarantee future results. 90%+
of individual traders lose money trading. Don't be one of them.