Did you question him why he used only 100k in capital? Why not $3.5 mil to make $6.5m?
And why did he get out of the game after losing only 25k? (0.7% of total bankroll)
He may be a very conservative trader and/or has lived and learnt enough about money management.
I have known him for a while and known he was a successfull trader (not an investor) when I decided that trading from a boat while cruising was practical, I went an saw him for advise.
He is 63 years old and not in good health (stress?)
As i said, he has all the toys, including a rolls royce and he said the other day that, if ,he is not getting fun out of it, why do it, he doesn't need any more money.
He advised me NOT to trade at the moment, its too hard.
I have watched him pick trades, he uses basic information probably fundamentals (no technicals in use).
It takes him 30 sec to decide whether a stock is worth a punt or not.
He doesn't day trade.
He says he uses stop losses but I have noticed a couple of times he ignores them.
However he does generally get out quick if a stock turns and he does let his profits run.
He likes speckies, he says they are more fun.
When I asked him whether he always traded spec's or was that a recent thing, he said he has always traded spec's particularly exploratory mining stocks.
He is very open with me, he says anyone can do this.
I am not so sure.
I would also argue that your friend will also report that his $3.5mill came from only 20% or less of his trades.In other words he had some spectacular wins rather than many many good winners.
I am not sure about that. He always shows me his portfolio. A couple of months ago they were 90% green (up) now they are 80% red.
However I think you are right his big wins are big wins.