Hi Sector, is a good exercise to look back at the hot sectors of a couple of years ago and see where they are today. I wonder if there's a different perspective to apply to it though. Given the small percentage that have maintained a good (or any) gain since then, I wonder if its not a question of being hard to picking the long term winners, but rather its a reality of the spec end of the market that very few go on in the long term to achieve good gains - i.e. its in their nature as spec stocks that onl a very few will make it long term, and most will langush or fail. To that extent I wonder of its not really a matter of it having been hard recently to pick such winners, but the long term winners/losers ratio is consistent with history and the real lesson is maybe its better to accept that buy and hold for these stocks is against the odds but short term trades good money can be made. I know from my own trading in spec stock that the stats are much better on stocks I have held only short term versus those I have held longer term (its chalk and cheese actually).