Am I a member of 'General Public'?

Suppose an investor wants to buy options on the Japanese yen. Pro­fessor Statman says the investor should ask: "What do I know about the yen, the trade deficit, and so on, that dozens of professional economists and currency traders don't know?" The answer would persuade most people not to make the investment. But people ask the wrong questions and go on investing because of an expectation that they might beat the market. As Professor Statman jokes, this phenomenon is probably the salvation of the market. Or, as Mark Twain once wrote: "Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed."

What is that I have done? Well, I did make money with options while I was chasing TCS after it's listing. In fact, I dont remember making money with any other option at all!! (Maybe because by that time, I was deep in red to notice the 6k or 8k that I made in a contract). But the question is - why did I succeed initially? Was it beginner's luck? Or was it something else?

Maybe the answer could be trend following - I knew nothing about TCS - But since TCS was going up, buying calls made sense. So does buying Nifty futures now. After some time, Nifty may top out, it may consolidate. What would be my strategy then??? Of course, the ideal strategy would be to sit out. But I am not sure whether I have that kinda patience. Maybe the next best thing to do would be punt in NF with a strict (Whom am I kidding??) stop loss of 10pts, just as Amar said.