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Trading Lessons

Lessons From My $5,823 Week: Small Gains Add Up! {VIDEO}

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Written by Timothy Sykes
Updated 2/16/2022 3 min read

A slow market isn’t always a bad thing.

For me, it allows me to hyper-focus on only the best trade setups.

And believe it or not, it’s where you learn one of the most valuable lessons: Sitting On Your Hands. 

Last week I made $5,823 taking small gains. Keep that in mind as you watch the video.

In this video recap….

  • Weird but true: How a side-hustle can make you a more disciplined trader.
  • What Tesla’s (TSLA) price action on January 28 can teach you about trading true penny stocks.
  • The ‘Warm Butter’ test you can use to gauge true panic in a market selloff. (And how to apply it to individual stocks.)
  • “Theoretically, it should go much lower.” What to do when the bid steadies itself right below a key technical level.
  • Back to basics: How being late to the open and NOT having a watchlist helped me find my biggest percent win of the week!
  • The Friday Spiker ‘hack’ that helped me make $472 in eight minutes on UCPA. (And the tool EVERY trader — for the love of money! — should use daily.)
  • The two most important trading strategies for you to focus on in the current market.
  • Why you don’t need perfect entries or exits to stack singles. (And how aiming for perfection can hold you back.)
  • The shocking truth that none of the ‘big-time’ traders on Twitter will ever admit.
  • PLUS: The 3-part ‘Bad News Buy Signal’ I used to bank $396 in four minutes on EEENF. See the crazy chart below!
EEENF chart: Feb. 9-10, 2022, 3-part ‘bad news buy signal’ morning panic dip buy (Source: StocksToTrade.com)

Lessons from My $5,823 Week: Video Recap

Get all these lessons and more in the recap video below…

Remember, small gains add up, simple trades are good, and you don’t have to trade every day.

It’s fine to take unexpected trades that pop up on your radar. Just be willing to test with small positions or paper trade.

Even in a slow market, there’s a lot to learn. Every day you can gain a little more knowledge and experience. If you’re truly dedicated, go back and look through my historical trades — especially when the market was hot.

Also look for new opportunities. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by…

On Tuesday, February 22, I’m sitting down with the legendary Chuck Hughes. He agreed to reveal his “snowballing” strategy on camera.

Register for free here…

The 7-Day Snowball Trading Summit

Want more recap video lessons like this? Comment below with “Keep ‘em coming.” I love to hear from all my readers!


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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

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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”