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How To Simplify Your Trading

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Written by Timothy Sykes
Updated 12/2/2025 6 min read

It’s OK to admit it: Your trading plan is a tangled mess.

You’ve got five indicators flashing on the screen, CNBC in one ear, a Discord chat in the other, and somehow, despite all that “information”, your account keeps shrinking.

I’ve been there. Every new trader has.

You start with a clean slate and good intentions … Then the greed creeps in.

Maybe you see someone post a monster win on Twitter and think, I should’ve caught that. So you force a setup that isn’t there.

Then you average down when it sinks lower. You hold and hope. And before you know it, you’re blaming the market for a big loss when the real enemy is in the mirror.

Here’s the truth, trading isn’t rocket science. You’re just overcomplicating it.

The biggest mistake that new traders make is thinking complexity leads to control. It really leads to chaos.

When I made my first million, it wasn’t because I predicted the market. It’s because I simplified a popular pattern that repeats among the hottest stocks.

One pattern. One process. Over and over until I saw it in my sleep.

In the beginning, slow your roll. You’re not Warren Buffett. You don’t need ten strategies or ten open positions at once …

Instead, you need ten disciplined trades that prove you can follow the rules.

Discipline is the key to my success.

Are you disciplined enough to follow these simple instructions?

Instructions For New Traders

Tim Sykes tosses his book An American Hedge Fund in the Alps
© Millionaire Media, LLC

Everything clicked when I finally stopped chasing random patterns and focused on one setup.

I was in my college dorm room at Tulane University, pouring over stock charts and indicator data when I decided …

As a small-account trader, I should focus on stocks with the largest percent gain. That way, it gives me the best chance of growing my account quickly.

Enter: The Supernova pattern.

A Supernova is what happens when hype, volume, and news collide. A tiny stock will announce a catalyst or catch the attention of too many short sellers …

And it ignites a stock spike that can easily reach +1,000%.

For example, SMX Public Limited Company (NASDAQ: SMX) spiked 1,100%* in less than two days last week, starting Wednesday, November 26.

On the SMX chart below, every candle represents five trading minutes:

SMX chart multi-day, 5-minute candles Source: StocksToTrade
SMX chart multi-day, 5-minute candles Source: StocksToTrade

Everyone thinks these spikes are random. That they’re one-in-a-million chances to get rich.

But in truth, we’ve seen multiple +1,000% stock spikes this year.

There’s a common pattern at work:

  • The ignition: A sudden surge in volume and volatility after a strong news catalyst (or obvious short squeeze momentum).
  • The euphoria: Traders rush in, momentum builds, and price action accelerates fast.
  • The exhaustion: Late buyers get trapped as the stock stalls at the top.
  • The collapse: The fade begins, and disciplined traders either lock in profits or prepare for dip buys on the way down.

Most traders blow up because they chase the wrong phase. They buy too high, panic too late, or ignore their stops.

But traders who study the structure recognize where they are in the move and react strategically instead of emotionally.

The Supernova pattern is powerful if you respect the volatility.

  • For small accounts, it’s a shortcut to level up.
  • For undisciplined traders, the volatility is a fast track to blowing up.

The difference comes down to preparation. Know your entry, know your risk, and cut losses quickly.

You don’t need to trade everything that moves. Just master the Supernova, the most explosive setup in the market.

Watch my video below for details about the Supernova pattern:

True Discipline

Most traders think discipline means willpower.

The willpower to take good trades and stay out of bad ones.

But when we think about it like that, trading sounds exhausting.

You’re telling me, every time that I trade I’ll be tempted one way or the other and I just have to fight the urge to screw it up?

Forget it. That’s no way to live.

Good thing there’s another way …

We don’t need as much willpower when we follow a textbook pattern.

Discipline is having a plan before entering a trade, and following it according to the rules that we set to help protect our account.

Here’s how to test your discipline:

  • Can you cut losses quickly, even when you “feel” the stock might bounce?
  • Can you stop trading after two solid wins, instead of forcing a third?
  • Can you skip a trade that doesn’t fit your setup, even if it runs without you?

If you answered “no” to any of those, you’re not ready for size … Yet.

Success in trading isn’t about predicting moves. It’s about reacting correctly when the move happens. And that comes from discipline.

Here’s your assignment to achieve trading discipline:

For the next ten trades, focus on one pattern, one process, one plan.

Track your execution, not your profit. Because if you can stay disciplined through ten trades, you’re already ahead of 90% of the market.

Simplify. Focus. Execute.

Cheers

 

*Past performance does not indicate future results



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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”