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Patterns To Watch

The 5 Best Chart Patterns For Beginner Traders

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Written by Timothy Sykes
Updated 1/15/2026 9 min read

Think you need to master dozens of trading patterns to make millions in the stock market?

Think again…

Throughout my 15 years teaching thousands of traders (including 50+ millionaires), I’ve been trying to answer one simple question:

What’s the one skill above all that separates my millionaire students from the 90% of traders who lose money?

The answer? Knowing exactly which setups to watch for (and which ones to ignore completely).

While everyone else is chasing the latest complex strategy, flashy tool, or exotic seasonal pattern, my top students stick to 5 core setups that have proven themselves time and time again.

Trust me, conquering 5 chart patterns beats being mediocre at 30.

A jack of all trades is a master of none.

Still, 9 out of 10 traders never learn which patterns to focus on.

They waste years studying some hyper-specific strategy while ignoring the small handful of easily identifiable chart patterns that actually generate consistent, reliable returns.

Understanding these setups is like having a cheat sheet while the rest of the class takes the test straight-up.

These Are The 5 Best Chart Patterns For Beginners…

Setup #1: Multi-Day Breakouts

The key to nailing multi-day breakouts? Using past highs to identify the breakout level.

You’re looking for stocks that have hit a very specific price two, three, four, or five days ago.

Or two, three, four, five weeks ago.

Then, you want to see a breakout over that level.

Why does it matter?

Because millions of traders have technical screens looking for specific breakouts over key levels.

You want as many traders as possible looking at that one key level.

That way, two groups of buyers converge at that breakout point:

  • Longs like to buy those breakouts. It shows the stock might be in for a bigger run.
  • Short sellers stop out when the stock they’re betting against hits a new high. When a short seller covers, they’re buying back shares.

That rush usually creates a quick breakout, especially if it’s a lower-priced volatile play in a hot sector (like AI or crypto).

The stock can break out 10%, 30%, or even 100% within a few minutes or hours…

In an ideal world, you draw a simple line on your chart at the previous high, and if it breaks convincingly, the stock usually explodes higher.

Especially if there’s the right news catalyst, if it’s in a hot sector, or if we’re in a bull market (like we are right now).

Setup #2: Morning Spikers

Some of the best trades come first thing in the morning…

Lately, this includes premarket (starting at 4:00 AM Eastern).

I know it’s not fun to get up at 4 AM Eastern. (Congratulations to my European students. You live in the right time zone.)

But whether it’s 4:00 AM, 7:00 AM, or 9:30 AM, these three times are when stocks can really spike:

  • 4:00 AM Eastern: When brokers like Interactive Brokers open
  • 7:00 AM Eastern: When retail brokers like E*TRADE or TD Ameritrade open
  • 9:30 AM Eastern: Normal market hours, when every broker opens

I’m looking for stocks with news. Stocks with volume. Stocks that are already up 5%, 10%, 20%, even 50%.

A stock that’s green early gets traders interested. It hits watchlists.

A stock that’s up 10%, 20%, 30% can go up 50%, 100%, 200% with the right news catalyst.

I wouldn’t buy a stock without a news catalyst. There are dozens of morning spikers that only move because different chat rooms are buying them.

When the chat room buys, they go up. When they sell, the stock goes down very quickly.

Ideally, I like buying a stock on a 10% or 20% dip off the morning highs.

More Breaking News

That way, if it breaks through the highs, it can spike very fast as the shorts cover and more traders buy the breakout.

Setup #3: Afternoon Breakouts

Let’s say there was a high set on a chart at 7 AM, 9:00 AM, or 12 PM.

By afternoon or after hours, you’re looking for a breakout over that key level.

I actually like afternoon and after-hour setups, especially for beginners, because they’re not as fast as premarket spikers.

In the afternoon, you’re working with more information. You might not get the same excessive breakouts or runs that you would get early in the morning, but it’s safer. And oftentimes, it’s easier for newbies (who aren’t used to the speed and volatility of morning spikers).

If the stock fails to break out, if it doesn’t explode up in the afternoon or after hours, you just cut it. Simple as that.

If you like slower-moving trades, focus on afternoon breakouts.

Setup #4: Morning Panics Dip-Buys

I love dip-buying morning panics (especially on multi-day runners).

Think about stocks that have been spiking for two, three, four, five, six days in a row. Sometimes people are riding them up.

Congratulations to those people with patience, but I’m not one of them.

I’m always looking for a good price, like a shopper on Black Friday. I’m looking for deals in the stock market.

When a stock’s been running for several days, there’s always an opportunity to get in on a dip. And sometimes, this happens very quickly, especially near the market open.

If a stock has gone from $1 to $6 over five days, and the stock drops in the morning (due to the market, some negative news, or just profit taking), it might drop from $6 to $5.

$5 is a round number. Newbies tend to use stop losses exactly at round numbers to protect themselves.

If all those stop losses at $5 get taken out in a hunt, that creates a tsunami of automated sell orders.

The stock might drop from $5 down to $4.50 or even $4 within a few seconds.

That opens the door to a solid dip-buying opportunity. The stock, for literally no reason (or a small reason), drops 20%, 30%, 40%.

If you’re prepared, you can flip it for a quick 5%, 10%, or 20% bounce.

There is a risk of “catching a falling knife.”

Sometimes, if the stock drops due to some truly bad news, the lows can continue going lower.

But if you know there’s no negative news, it’s probably just stop losses.

And you can scalp those for quick gains.

Setup #5: First Green Days (My Favorite For Beginners)

Always save the best for last.

Why is this pattern the best for newbies? It’s the slowest.

As a beginner, it’s overwhelming when setups move dozens of % in minutes.

The First Green Day Pattern solves this common headache.

You’re simply buying a stock into the close on the first green day (after a series of red daily candles).

You want a stock that’s up 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% on the first green day … with a catalyst.

Don’t be afraid to buy high.

Look for big volume candles … those can really keep going.

The first green day leads to a second green day.

The first green day pattern is all about buying momentum, where there’s a little bit of price discovery.

Most people are not focused on small caps and micro caps. There’s a timing inefficiency, especially over the weekend.

My single best and most winning strategy of all? Buying a stock on the first green Friday and selling it on Monday.

Whether people are seeing the stock on the scans, researching it over the weekend, or just overnight … they’re buying because it just popped up on their radar.

That creates a huge opportunity in buying these stocks on day one of a bullish reversal.

Other traders find it on day two, day three, day four … and we reap the benefits.

The stocks that spike 50%, 100%, 200%, 500% usually don’t do it all in one day. It takes several days.

But once the stock has already closed strong on a first green day, you can ride the momentum into day two, day three, day four, and so forth.

Jack Kellogg, my top student of all time (now over $22 million* in verified profits)?

This is his favorite pattern of all time.

Master These 5 Setups

These setups are impossible to miss once you understand them. They practically jump off the screen.

You don’t need to learn 100 different patterns. You don’t need complex indicators, a business degree, or advanced math.

Just these 5 setups:

  • Multi-day breakouts. 
  • Morning spikers. 
  • Afternoon breakouts. 
  • Morning panic dip-buys. 
  • First green days.

Study them. Practice them. Master them.

That’s how my millionaire students achieved their wildest dreams.

Now, it’s your turn…

Cheers,

Tim

 

 

*Past performance does not indicate future results

 



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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”