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Trading Lessons

1 Great Trade In a Hot Market

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Written by Timothy Sykes Reviewed by Jack Kellogg Fact-checked by Ellis Hobbs
Updated 5/14/2026 4 min read
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To be a successful trader, you have to be in the game.

That means studying, making a watchlist every day, and taking trades (or paper trading).

It means you have to journal your trades..

And it means you have to constantly refine your process.

But none of that adds up to being profitable.

In fact, you could do everything mentioned above and still be in the red.

There’s a secret though…

It’s something that almost nobody in this industry will tell you.

It’s a lesson you can’t forget (once you see it, you can’t unsee it).

And it happens all the time with my students…

1 Great Trade Makes Up For Dozens of Small Losses

Would you be willing to lose 10, 15, 20 trades in a row if you knew you could make up all the losses (and more) on one trade?

Let’s say you start with small trades and set your risk at $10.

How long could you stay in the game losing just $10 per trade?

And how many trades would you be willing to lose before you gave up?

If you KNEW that eventually you would get there, would you stick with it?

Because I’ve seen it dozens of times now.

Something happens.

It’s not like a lightbulb goes off.

And it doesn’t even require you to be a full time trader.

Many of my students work regular jobs while they’re learning…

But over time, with all that practice, preparation, and refinement…

When the market gets hot…

You’ll be READY.

Right now, the market is hot.

And my students who put in long hours of study watching video lessons…

Asking questions on webinars…

And, yes, taking losses…

Are the ones taking advantage of it.

Imagine what it will be like once you’ve traded through more than one hot market.

Millionaire Moves

All my millionaire students started small, took thousands of trades and refined their process.

This week I’ve been in Italy with several top students.

We’re hitting the gym, trading, and giving webinars (and eating GREAT food)

But even with my top students who have been trading for years…

1 great trade can make up for a bunch of losses.

Once you have the experience…

And you get on a roll in a hot market…

THAT is when you can start to make big gains in your trading account.

So, my question for you is, are you willing to take the small trades, the losses, and the lessons?

Because if you are, then now is the time to apply to my Trading Challenge and get busy.

It’s not magic. It’s not rocket science. And it doesn’t take forever.

More Breaking News

But you will have to study hard.

Key Takeaway

Preparation is key. In trading, that means getting in the game.

Even if you just dedicate some time every day to watching a video lesson, things will start to make sense.

We ALL start at the beginning.

Now go study hard.

 

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”