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My Newest Millionaire Student!

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Written by Timothy Sykes Reviewed by Jack Kellogg Fact-checked by Ellis Hobbs
Updated 3/7/2025 4 min read
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I remember when I first started the Challenge …

I built myself into a self-made millionaire by trading volatile stock spikes.

Other people wanted to know how I did it. So I taught them and challenged them to reach the same $1 million milestone.

That was in the early 2000’s. And all these years later, I’m still watching students climb past the $1 million milestone.

Meet the most recent trader to pass $1 million in profits (including losses). His name is Clay!

Curious to see his progress?

My millionaire students and I share all of our trades publicly. Take a look at Clay’s profit chart below:

Source: Profitly

Notice that his profits stagnated in 2022 and 2023 after a huge spike in 2020 and 2021.

2020 and 2021 were great markets for trading!

Also notice, Clay’s progress picked up again in 2024 and 2025 …

We’re in a perfect market for traders right now!

Follow Clay’s example, and the example set by the rest of my millionaire students.

How Clay Grew His Account

Image credit: Clay

Clay wasn’t always a millionaire …

Some online haters will speculate that I’m an evil genius and all of my students are trust fund kids that pretend to trade 😆

More Breaking News

Even while students like Jack Kellogg trade LIVE!

Clay’s journey to $1 million was full of tough lessons and hard losses. Like most of my millionaire students …

Looking at his earliest trades on profitly, it’s my opinion that Clay started with too large of a position size. This is probably why he had such a tough time in the beginning.

Look at his trade details below from 2018, uploaded to Profit.ly on January 21, 2020:

Source: Profit.ly

Ladies and gentlemen, slow your roll.

There’s no need to trade with a large position size until you develop consistent profits. Otherwise you’re risking money for no reason.

For example, one of the biggest runners from this week was Plus Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: PSTV). The stock spiked 300%* on March 6, and it never traded above $2 per share.

Just buy one share while you’re practicing. Focus on the percent gain, not the dollar gain.

Watch my interview with Clay to learn how he grew his account past $1 million!

And to follow in the rest of my millionaire student’s footsteps …

>> Apply To Join The Challenge <<

There’s an application process to keep the scammers and stock promoters out.

I’m not here to wrestle with the market’s sleeziest gamblers. I’m here to teach students how to trade.

Cheers.

 

*Past performance does not indicate future results

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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”