timothy sykes logo

Trading Lessons

How To Stay Green In The Market

Timothy SykesAvatar
Written by Timothy Sykes
Reviewed by Jack Kellogg Fact-checked by Ellis Hobbs
Updated 2/5/2025 5 min read

Trading profits are more than possible for those with a small account.

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need a bunch of cash to start in the stock market.

The stock that I traded yesterday, February 4, Quantum Biopharma Ltd. (NASDAQ: QNTM) spiked 130%* and never traded above $8 in the morning …

Here’s why we like these stocks:

  • The shares are cheap and accessible for small-account traders.
  • Plus, the larger percent gain allows us to take a sizable meat of the move.

I traded QNTM for a 5% profit yesterday.

That’s a solid trade!

By comparison, the S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY) gained 20% in 2024. With those metrics, it would take a trader 3 months to realize a 5% return on the SPY.

I found a 5% gain on QNTM in a matter of minutes.

Take a look at my trade notes below:

Source: Profit.ly

I can teach you how to trade these stocks.

But we need to explore a specific reality when it comes to trading. Otherwise you’ll meet the same fate as other failed traders.

Stock Trading Reality

This is an essential part of trading …

There’s a difference between profiting in the market and staying green.

  • Any fool can get lucky and make money in the stock market. But they usually lose it during their next few trades.
  • We stay green by focusing on the best setups and quitting while we’re ahead.

That might sound a little backward … How do we quit trading while we’re ahead but also continue to make money?

It’s along the same lines as the old saying, “too much of anything is bad”.

We need to stop ourselves from overtrading. We need to quit while we’re ahead.

Yesterday I made one trade in the morning. It was on QNTM.

I didn’t make multiple trades on QNTM because I didn’t see another setup. I was able to hold myself back from trying to make more money.

Once a trader makes money in the market, they get euphoric high. It’s similar to a gambling high. They want to make more money so they start looking for more trade setups. Eventually they’ll look in the wrong spot and lose.

We have to control the urge to act on our emotions. Instead, we have to approach the market with a calculated analysis for every trade.

How To Get Ahead

top penny stocks list Tim Sykes on a cliff in Italy with a laptop
© Millionaire Media, LLC

Obviously, to make money in the stock market, we have to make profitable trades.

To quit while we’re ahead, we first have to get ahead.

There are so many tools that you can use to learn this trading process in the market.

A trading process that has already helped more than 30 traders become millionaires!

Understand, there are a lot of angles that traders can use to profit … My process is best suited for small-account traders because of the scalability.

For example, one of my most recent millionaire students, Eduardo, started with only $1,900.

The trading patterns that we use are the same over and over again.

The most volatile stocks in the market can follow the same patterns because the people trading these stocks are predictable during times of high stress.

I’ve been trading with these patterns for over 2 decades and they haven’t changed yet …

More Breaking News

>> Go From A Complete Newbie To Your First Trade In 10 Days <<

What To Do When You Lose

I’m a transparent trader in an industry full of fakes.

And I have no problem telling you that I lose sometimes.

According to my trade tracker on Profit.ly, I lose 24% of the time.

Here’s a recent example. Read my trade notes below:

Source: Profit.ly

Cut your losses quickly.

If the stock doesn’t follow our pattern, get out.

There’s nothing wrong with a small loss.

It’s part of the learning process in the beginning. And you’ll encounter losses throughout your entire trading career.

Take the loss and move to the next trade.

We focus on the best setups to minimize our losses.

But when we have to lose, we lose small.

Source: imgflip

Cheers.

 

*Past performance does not indicate future results


How much has this post helped you?



Leave a reply

* 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”