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8 rules that helped me make $8 million

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Written by Timothy Sykes Reviewed by Jack Kellogg Fact-checked by Ellis Hobbs
Updated 5/26/2026 5 min read
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I don’t mean to brag, but…

I’m on a heater.

I caught the big run on AKTX last week (sold too soon, but still caught it).

I nailed MNTS in premarket yesterday.

My millionaire student Jack and (soon-to-be-millionaire student) Juan crushed the QTEX spike…

This is an awesome market for disciplined traders, but still a VERY choppy one for small-cap runners.

These plays don’t last long. They spike, and then they fall … fast.

To capitalize on these moves, you can’t just sit down at your laptop and trade like every other idiot on Twitter…

Jack Kellogg has $33 million+ in verified trading profits because he follows rules. 

That’s what I want for you.

These are the 8 rules that led me to $8 million…

  1. Go where the best setups are.

Premarket and after-hours spikers are crushing it in this market (especially for small accounts). Watch big % gainers sitting near their premarket highs. If the volume is there and they break those highs early in the day, they can really run. But you need to be at your screen by 7 a.m. EST. If you miss the window, you miss the gains.

  1. Be careful dip buying.

(See above). The best trades are coming from strong charts. Beaten-down small-caps aren’t springing back to life, and the spikers don’t last long. Don’t overstay your welcome or try to catch falling knives.

  1. Trade extra-safe (aim for singles)

Try to make 10-20% on a position and get out. Don’t think you’re gonna change your life overnight on one trade (you’re more likely to blow your account up). Take the small wins, then move on. Repeat, over and over and over again. Small wins build discipline and give you the confidence to size up later. Consistency, consistency, consistency.

  1. Ride the hype, don’t buy the hype.

Trade the moves on these ridiculous runners, but don’t believe what the CEO says. Expect the worst from every company and you’ll never be disappointed. These aren’t investments. The fundamentals don’t matter. The types of trades that have made my students rich are all about the near-term story and the chart pattern. When the volume dries up, the spike is over.

  1. Cut losses quickly

This is my #1 rule. If a trade is going against you, cut losses quickly. I’m wrong roughly 1/3 of the time, but I’m still a multi-millionaire trader. How? I control my losses when I’m wrong. My winners are bigger than my losers, and that’s how you survive long enough to master trading.

  1. Never follow trade alerts

Never follow alerts from anyone (including me). Don’t enter a trade because someone else is. If you can’t explain why you’re in a trade, you shouldn’t be in it. Use alerts to learn the process and find the patterns that work for you. Alerts are training wheels. The goal is to study the setups until you can spot them yourself in real time.

  1. Knowledge before profits

You only have one job at this point: get better at trading. Don’t try to make as much money as possible. Forget money for a second. I have millions of dollars in profits, but I’m PAPER TRADING right now to re-optimize my strategy. Study the patterns and track your trades … review your losers harder than your winners.

  1. Don’t feel bad about missed opportunities

You missed a huge move? Get over it. Trading opportunities are like trains, there’s always another one coming.

You can either wallow in your missed trade or get to work on nailing the next one…

Your call.

 

Cheers,

 

Tim Sykes

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Timothy Sykes

Tim Sykes is a penny stock trader and teacher who became a self-made millionaire by the age of 22 by trading $12,415 of bar mitzvah money. After becoming disenchanted with the hedge fund world, he established the Tim Sykes Trading Challenge to teach aspiring traders how to follow his trading strategies. He’s been featured in a variety of media outlets including CNN, Larry King, Steve Harvey, Forbes, Men’s Journal, and more. He’s also an active philanthropist and environmental activist, a co-founder of Karmagawa, and has donated millions of dollars to charity.
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* Results are not typical and will vary from person to person. Making money trading stocks takes time, dedication, and hard work. There are inherent risks involved with investing in the stock market, including the loss of your investment. Past performance in the market is not indicative of future results. Any investment is at your own risk. See Terms of Service here

The available research on day trading suggests that most active traders lose money. Fees and overtrading are major contributors to these losses.

A 2000 study called “Trading is Hazardous to Your Wealth: The Common Stock Investment Performance of Individual Investors” evaluated 66,465 U.S. households that held stocks from 1991 to 1996. The households that traded most averaged an 11.4% annual return during a period where the overall market gained 17.9%. These lower returns were attributed to overconfidence.

A 2014 paper (revised 2019) titled “Learning Fast or Slow?” analyzed the complete transaction history of the Taiwan Stock Exchange between 1992 and 2006. It looked at the ongoing performance of day traders in this sample, and found that 97% of day traders can expect to lose money from trading, and more than 90% of all day trading volume can be traced to investors who predictably lose money. Additionally, it tied the behavior of gamblers and drivers who get more speeding tickets to overtrading, and cited studies showing that legalized gambling has an inverse effect on trading volume.

A 2019 research study (revised 2020) called “Day Trading for a Living?” observed 19,646 Brazilian futures contract traders who started day trading from 2013 to 2015, and recorded two years of their trading activity. The study authors found that 97% of traders with more than 300 days actively trading lost money, and only 1.1% earned more than the Brazilian minimum wage ($16 USD per day). They hypothesized that the greater returns shown in previous studies did not differentiate between frequent day traders and those who traded rarely, and that more frequent trading activity decreases the chance of profitability.

These studies show the wide variance of the available data on day trading profitability. One thing that seems clear from the research is that most day traders lose money .

Millionaire Media 66 W Flagler St. Ste. 900 Miami, FL 33130 United States (888) 878-3621 This is for information purposes only as Millionaire Media LLC nor Timothy Sykes is registered as a securities broker-dealer or an investment adviser. No information herein is intended as securities brokerage, investment, tax, accounting or legal advice, as an offer or solicitation of an offer to sell or buy, or as an endorsement, recommendation or sponsorship of any company, security or fund. Millionaire Media LLC and Timothy Sykes cannot and does not assess, verify or guarantee the adequacy, accuracy or completeness of any information, the suitability or profitability of any particular investment, or the potential value of any investment or informational source. The reader bears responsibility for his/her own investment research and decisions, should seek the advice of a qualified securities professional before making any investment, and investigate and fully understand any and all risks before investing. Millionaire Media LLC and Timothy Sykes in no way warrants the solvency, financial condition, or investment advisability of any of the securities mentioned in communications or websites. In addition, Millionaire Media LLC and Timothy Sykes accepts no liability whatsoever for any direct or consequential loss arising from any use of this information. This information is not intended to be used as the sole basis of any investment decision, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the investment needs of any particular investor. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future returns.

Citations for Disclaimer

Barber, Brad M. and Odean, Terrance, Trading is Hazardous to Your Wealth: The Common Stock Investment Performance of Individual Investors. Available at SSRN: “Day Trading for a Living?”

Barber, Brad M. and Lee, Yi-Tsung and Liu, Yu-Jane and Odean, Terrance and Zhang, Ke, Learning Fast or Slow? (May 28, 2019). Forthcoming: Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Available at SSRN: “https://ssrn.com/abstract=2535636”

Chague, Fernando and De-Losso, Rodrigo and Giovannetti, Bruno, Day Trading for a Living? (June 11, 2020). Available at SSRN: “https://ssrn.com/abstract=3423101”