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Big Things Have Small Beginnings: Stocks and My Crazy Hair

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Written by Timothy Sykes
Updated 1/4/2023 11 min read

Big things have small beginnings.

Both my hair and the stock market prove that. They’re both out of control right now…

True, there may not be enough product in the world to tame my mane. But there are still opportunities…

Maybe they’ll make a Chia Pet that looks like me. Or even better, I’ll keep growing it till it’s long enough to donate, so I can bring attention to the illegal hair trade

There are always opportunities out there — it’s all about having the right mindset.

As for the stock market, there are SO many penny stocks in play right now. I’m ready for them. That’s how I made over $136K* in September 2020…

You can’t control what will happen next in the market. But you can control how prepared you are when the right plays come along.

Wanna get ready to take advantage of the current market volatility?

(*Please note: My results, along with the results of my top students, are far from typical. Individual results will vary. Most traders lose money. My top students and I have the benefit of many years of hard work and dedication. Trading is inherently risky. Do your due diligence and never risk more than you can afford to lose.) 

So Many Opportunities

The opportunities in the stock market right now are as plentiful as my hair.

Consider Spi Energy Co Ltd (NASDAQ: SPI), one of the craziest movers in recent memory. There’s a lot you can learn from this 4,000% gainer…

I dip bought this crazy short squeeze when it came off of its tops with a goal of making 50–75 cents on the bounce.

Bounce it did — it was a total rush. I got out of the trade fast and made a quick $1,040 profit.*

SPI penny stock chart
SPI chart, spike on September 23, 2020 — courtesy of StocksToTrade.com

Big things have small beginnings! I could have made a lot more … but I like to play it safe. I couldn’t know at the time how high this stock would go. Plays like this aren’t for the timid.

Things can change fast, so you can’t get greedy.  

Wanna be ready for plays like this? I’ve got two resources.

First, you’ve gotta check out “The Volatility Survival Guide.” This no-cost resource offers a thorough education on the insane volatility we’ve been experiencing. If you want to understand how to approach rockets like SPI, it’s a must-watch.

Second, I can’t recommend StocksToTrade’s Breaking News Chat Room enough. You need to be a subscriber to STT to get access — I say it’s well worth it. I’ve found countless trades using this tool. 

(Please note I’m an investor in StocksToTrade and I proudly helped develop it.)

Adapting Your Strategy

I’ve been using the same basic trading strategy for the past 20+ years.

I’ve had to adapt, though. I used to be a short seller. Now I mostly go long, with very few exceptions…

But my strategy still relies on the same basic patterns. They repeat over and over. I just adapt as needed.

When the market shifts, I shift. I’m loyal to what makes me profits so that I can donate more to charity.* And I’m loyal to the trades that offer the best lessons for my students.

My top students get it. They all started out in my Trading Challenge. They learned my strategy … Then over time, they adapted it into their own respective strategies.

For example, Mark Croock was among my first millionaire students.* These days, he’s an options trader.

I didn’t teach him how to trade options. I’m just training wheels for my students. He used the basic rules I taught him and applied them to options trading.

Now, he’s up over $2 million in total profits.*

That’s what I’m talking about when I say that I want you to become self-sufficient.

Always Room to Grow

There will never be a point when you’ve totally nailed it as a trader and there’s nothing left to learn.

Whether I’m teaching, reading the feed in my Trading Challenge chat room, or making a video lesson, I’m always learning something new.

I even learn from my mistakes, like my biggest loss in months…

I still need a little therapy about it, so let me tell you what went wrong…

Ambow Education Holding Ltd (NYSEAMERICAN: AMBO) was up … Then, for whatever reason, there was a huge crash and halt. Just like that, I lost over $4,000

AMBO penny stock chart
AMBO chart, spike, crash, then re-spike on September 28, 2020 — courtesy of StocksToTrade.com

I got out of the trade. I’m much more responsible about cutting losses than I’ve been about making hair appointments…

The stock actually spiked again — I could’ve been profitable on the trade. But the thing is, you never know.

I took the loss and moved on — and I actually ended up being profitable for the day.*

The lesson here? You can get crushed in a heartbeat when you’re trading these huge percent gainers. Be ready to cut losses quickly, and don’t get greedy. 

Remember: great trading isn’t about nailing it every time. If you’re always going for home runs, you could end up striking out — a lot.

It’s all about those singles! Small wins add up over time.

Ready to Keep Growing?

Nothing lasts forever. You know what they say — hair today, gone tomorrow.

As a trader, all you can do is keep learning and be prepared when opportunities come along.

If you’re serious about becoming a self-sufficient trader, consider joining my Trading Challenge. This is exactly where my top students started, and where many new traders are finding their way in the market.

What’ll you get? Webinars. The greatest chat room community ever. And so much more…

Big things have small beginnings. Focus on a little growth every day … it adds up over time. My hair is all the proof you need!

Do you understand that big things have small beginnings? If you get it, leave a comment … or retweet or favorite my infamous hair post


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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. Read More

* 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”