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Trading Lessons

Successful Traders Do It With Discipline

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Written by Timothy Sykes Reviewed by Jack Kellogg Fact-checked by Ellis Hobbs
Updated 4/20/2026 5 min read
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Successful trading is about discipline.

The market doesn’t know your name (sorry).

And the market doesn’t care about you (OR me).

Which is why it is CRUCIAL that you…

Separate your emotions from your actions.

Once you start getting emotional and say, “Oh, the market doesn’t want me to win.”

Or, “This other trader doesn’t want me to win.”

You’re not going to plan very well (because you’re too distracted).

You MUST know the patterns and the key levels.

You have to know where you should enter and exit based on what has worked.

Then you have to separate your emotions from your trading.

Focus on making a good plan (then execute the plan with DISCIPLINE).

Remember, it’s you versus you.

We can all master our own emotions (at least enough to trade the plan).

Does this mean you’ll win every time?

No.

That’s not how trading works.

But if you can master your discipline through effort and by being meticulous…

You have as good a chance as anyone of breaking free.

The Setup

There’s a reason I trade instead of invest.

Most of the companies I trade will eventually fail.

It’s not just small companies, either.

A report showed that 52% of the companies that made the Fortune 500 list in 2003…

No longer existed in 2023 (see the link in the new On My Radar section).

Crazy, right?

One thing companies do to try and stay in business is to sell more shares…

How to Stay Disciplined When You’re Caught in an Offering 

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I bring this up because if you’re long-biased, sooner or later you’ll get caught in an offering.

Like this…

Source StocksToTrade WLDS 4/20/26 offering
Source StocksToTrade WLDS 4/20/26 offering

Wearable Devices Ltd (NASDAQ: $WLDS) pulled the classic “good news” to get the share price up…

And then an offering to raise money.

Scumbags.

It feels terrible getting caught in a trade like that.

First, there’s disbelief… then anger and frustration.

But there’s nothing you can do except manage your trade.

Get out, lick your wounds, and move on (and remember that ticker…)

It’s just another example of how the market doesn’t care about you.

That moment of ultimate panic is EXACTLY when you have to be the master of your emotions.

Millionaire Moves

Last week, one of my hardest working students (turned master trader) passed $3 million in trading profits.*

Massive congratulations to Eduardo as he deserves his success!

Eduardo is one of the most disciplined traders I know (even though it took him a while to get there).

I had the opportunity to hit the driving range with Eduardo and his niece at the end of March

I’ll feature Eduardo in an upcoming blog.

For now, check out Eduardo’s 15 tips to reach his level faster.

Eduardo is just one of 50+ millionaires who learned as a member of my Trading Challenge.

If you’re serious about trading and

Ready to dedicate yourself to being disciplined

Apply for my Trading Challenge today

More Breaking News

Catalyst Watch

Yesterday (April 20) several stocks on my watchlist were psychedelic drug plays, including this one…

The catalyst was the executive order Trump signed on Sunday “accelerating medical treatments for serious mental illness.”

Watch companies already developing psychedelic drug therapies.

Also, keep an eye on sympathy plays in related sectors.

For example, CNBC already ran a story about how the executive order could “unlock stalled cannabis reform.”

Anyone else ready for another weed stock run?

On My Radar 

I can’t wait to rescue more elephants…

Cheers,

 

— Tim Sykes

 

*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”