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Trading Lessons

The New Political Catalyst Moving Stocks

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Written by Timothy Sykes
Updated 5/22/2024 5 min read

The U.S. elite has long left small-account traders in the dust.

For example, there’s a whole sector of the market that aims to follow the stock picks of prominent political players in the U.S. Government.

One of the most notable investors on capitol hill is Nancy Pelosi …

Some of the stocks in her repertoire are listed below:

  • Roblox Corporation (NYSE: RBLX)
  • American Express Company (NYSE: AXP)
  • Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA)
  • NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA)

It’s not that individuals like Pelosi are trading with insider information (by definition), but most people agree that these figures have early insights on incoming business cycles and may even vote for policy that favors their investments.

As a result, stocks that politicians are interested in have become popular assets in recent years.

And if it acts as a bullish catalyst for big stocks like TSLA … imagine the momentum it would cause among small-cap stocks in our sector.

There’s no need to imagine anymore.

On March 22 we watched a penny stock spike 80%* on the first day, after announcing a famous political investor …

Politic Stock Picks

In case you didn’t follow the most recent political race for the republican primary, Vivek Ramaswamy was one of the most outspoken and youthful names in the cohort.

He drew a lot of attention. There’s a photo of him below from one of the Republican primary debates …

Source: ABCNews

Ultimately, Ramaswamy didn’t win the primary election and promptly aligned with Donald Trump, the party’s current nominee.

Now, we don’t talk politics here.

  • I don’t care about your political stance.
  • I don’t care what you think about Ramaswamy.
  • For all I know, the person reading this isn’t even a U.S. citizen … You might not care about U.S. politics at all!

No matter your political views … There are profit opportunities in the market that come about as a direct result of guys like Ramaswamy. And we saw it first hand on Wednesday, May 22.

Take a look at the post on X below that details Ramaswamy’s disclosed 7.7% stake in BuzzFeed Inc. (NASDAQ: BZFD). When the stock was trading around $2.50:

Source: X

And look at the resulting 80%* spike below, every candle represents one trading minute:

BZFD chart intraday, 1-minute candles Source: StocksToTrade

I already snagged a profit during premarket on the first day of the move. Here’s where we’re tracking the current price action LIVE.

See my trade notes below, with a starting stake of $12,993:

Source: Profit.ly

There are a lot of reasons a stock could spike higher.

And political plays are pretty high on that list. It’s a powerful catalyst. That’s why the BZFD opportunity was so obvious for me and my students.

Another Example – Hot Politic Stocks

In case you forgot, Donald Trump has his own stock this year.

And the share prices are subject to intense volatility as the 2024 U.S. election creeps closer.

Take a look at the chart below of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (NASDAQ: DJT), every candle represents one trading day.

DJT chart multi-month, 1-day candles Source: StocksToTrade

In 2024, share prices already spiked 630%* and subsequently lost 70%* of their value by mid April …

It’s not necessarily a stock that investors should be interested in … But for small-account traders, this intense volatility can reveal A+ trade setups.

  • We identify the volatility.
  • We wait for the stock to match our trading framework.
  • We get in.
  • We get out.

Don’t overstay your welcome with these quick runners. Follow the process my millionaire students and I use to trade.

Cheers.

 

*Past performance does not indicate future results

 


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Author card Timothy Sykes picture

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

* 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”