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Patterns To Watch

The Secret Behind December’s Biggest Stock Spikes

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Written by Timothy Sykes
Updated 12/12/2025 5 min read

We’re entering one of the most explosive times of the year for the stock market.

Now is the time to pay attention. The next few weeks could make all the difference.

Every December, while most people are distracted by the holidays, traders who stay prepared have a perfect opportunity to make gains.

It happens every year: Massive short squeezes, surprise catalysts, low-float runners that rip +100% in a single trading session.

And this year’s setups are even crazier.

Aimei Health Technology Co. Ltd (NASDAQ: AFJK) spiked 1,100%* in less than 24 hours last week.

The volatility is off the charts right now. It’s all thanks to several big-time catalysts swirling in the market:

  • AI bubble fears.
  • Supreme Court battles over tariffs.
  • An economy teetering under pressure.
  • A Fed stuck between fighting inflation and supporting the job market.
  • And now the January effect is ramping up.

Last week alone, we saw an incredible number of small-cap stocks spike past 100%.

Take a look at this list of 11 tickers.

But also take note, this window doesn’t last long.

The holiday stretch through January is a unique season for the market. Now’s the time to lock in. Study the right setups and show up every morning ready to strike.

This is when disciplined traders separate themselves from the crowd. And the year-end winners separate themselves from the year-end losers.

Don’t wait until 2026 to get serious, the fireworks have already started.

The Same Pattern Every Time

Every explosive move we’ve seen has followed the same repeating framework.

In this blog post we’ll look at Oriental Culture Holding LTD (NASDAQ: $OCG) and Mawson Infrastructure Group Inc. (NASDAQ: MIGI)  from last week as examples because the charts are so clean.

Look at my post below:

On the charts below, every candle represents one trading minute.

Here’s OCG, it spiked 630%* between December 9 and 10:

OCG chart multi-day, 1-minute candles Source: StocksToTrade
OCG chart multi-day, 1-minute candles Source: StocksToTrade

Here’s MIGI, it spiked 240%* between December 10 and 11:

MIGI chart multi-day, 1-minute candles Source: StocksToTrade
MIGI chart multi-day, 1-minute candles Source: StocksToTrade

It might not be obvious to an inexperienced trader, but both of these stocks are textbook examples of what I call the Supernova Framework.

A rapid, multi-phase explosion of price action driven by small floats, emotional traders, and a feedback loop of short sellers blowing up.

Look at the float numbers below.

  • OCG’s float sits around 11 million shares.
  • MIGI’s float is only 846k.

Our goal is to find stocks with a float below 10 million shares. And 11 million is close enough.

When floats are that tight, it doesn’t take much volume to move the stock. One catalyst, a small spark of hype, and suddenly the demand outweighs the available supply.

That’s just the beginning …

These are the 7 steps for a Supernova stock spike.

It’s the same move every time, just different tickers.

And it keeps replaying because traders are predictable under pressure: Fear, greed, and FOMO never change.

MIGI and OCG followed my framework because human beings are predictable.

And until human emotion disappears from the market (spoiler: it won’t), there will always be another Supernova waiting to ignite.

I know exactly how to scan for the next one. And with the right preparation, you will too.

The Next Supernova

By the time most people see these spikes, it’s already too late.

The real edge comes from spotting them before the crowd. That’s exactly what my Supernova Scanner was built to do.

It’s the tool my students and I use to track the early stages of these massive moves. Before they go viral, before they light up the chatrooms, before everyone starts chasing.

The scanner filters through thousands of tickers every morning to find the exact conditions that lead to spikes like OCG, MIGI, and AFJK: Low float, volume surge, fresh catalyst, and the emotional powder keg that lights it all.

Remember, this level of volatility won’t last forever. These windows of extreme bullish momentum come in bursts.

The market gets wild, the patterns repeat, traders cash in … And then the madness fades.

Right now, we’re in the middle of the storm. The sweet spot where disciplined traders can take advantage of market chaos while everyone else panics.

But as the holidays come to a close, the momentum will start to fade.

Don’t watch the next Supernova from the sidelines. It’s time to lock in.

Learn how to scan for these setups, how to identify the real opportunities from the fake outs, and how to prepare before the next explosion hits.

All the details are in my video below:

Cheers

 

*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”