The most realistic vehicle for doubling investment capital in one month can be found in speculative trading of the stock and commodity derivative contract markets, and it is not out of the question to make a heck of a lot bigger gains than 100% in a month. Where a stock trader may need a stock to double to make a 100% gain (assuming no margin), an option trader may only require a fraction of this move to result in triple digit gains in his position. Anyone that has traded options, futures, and options on futures has probably already seen instances where doubling their trading capital was even possible in one day. While options and futures are often only attributed to being the highest of risks, the fact is that options and futures can actually provide protection from risk and can offer safe investment alternatives, such as the purchasing of protective put options or shorting a future to hedge a long security holding. This is not to say that they cannot also be a high leverage and high risk/high reward game for speculators looking to make a big kill. However, to accomplish such a massive return one would have to implement a sort of “damn the torpedoes” approach to their trading.
This is usually the activity of a new or small time trader just discovering the enormous profit potentials available in the options markets looking to parlay small amounts of capital into small fortunes. Is it possible? Yes, I have done it myself by making gains closer to 1,000% in a month (yes that’s three zeros), but the days of even considering gains such as this are long over for me. This is not a viable approach to the markets and not likely to provide consistent returns over time. While tolerance to risk and volatility are very personal things and what is extremely high risk to one trader may very well be business as usual to another, everyone does have their limit. One must realize that when asking for triple digit rewards they must also be assuming a likened amount of risk in the form of potential loss and likelihood of a profitable outcome, in other words the raw odds are dramatically against you. Even if a trader can pull off a few triple digit gains by speculating on options contracts, or any investment for that matter, to continue parlaying these initial gains into a larger fortune the trader must commit to assuming these same fundamental risks on increasing amounts of capital. By constantly engaging in this activity, the likelihood of the law of averages taking a huge chunk of that hard won capital back is always increasing. All to often this comes in the form of a blowout that not only takes the profits back but also takes some, if not all, of the initial investment back leaving the trader scratching his or her head.
When I was first introduced to options their was no one that was able to talk me out of the high risk trading I was engaging in. So, while I cannot assume to tell someone else what to do with their money, and if taking a stab at triple digit gains in such short time spans is something you have your head set on trying, take whatever route you choose very slowly and only use capital that you can certainly afford to lose.