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Trading Lessons

Small-Account Profits Look Like This:

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Written by Timothy Sykes
Updated 5/21/2024 5 min read

I traded five stocks yesterday before noon.

Five stocks!

That should tell you how much opportunity there is in the market right now.

Usually, I trade one or two stocks a day. Some days I don’t trade at all.

But when the market drops these plays in my lap … What am I to do?

See my post on X below:

These are the five trades that I made yesterday, May 21:

With a starting stake of $6,571:

Source: Profit.ly

With a starting stake of $4,387:

Source: Profit.ly

With a starting stake of $3,620:

Source: Profit.ly

With a starting stake of $24,354:

Source: Profit.ly

With a starting stake of $14,900:

Source: Profit.ly

$3,145 in market profits before noon … On five different stocks. And I left a lot on the table!

There’s a ton of opportunity for small-account traders right now. I’m not the only one profiting.

Take a look at the X post that I included below:

Ummmmm … 20% is not small, Ricardo, lol.

20% is huge!

Hedge fund managers would LOVE to make 20% on the year.*

My students and I are finding opportunities like this within a single day in this 2024 stock market. Start to pay attention!

The Next Opportunity

© Millionaire Media, LLC

First let’s revisit the 570%* spike on MGO Global Inc. (NASDAQ: MGOL) from yesterday

I snagged 5% of the move.

It wasn’t exactly a stellar trade … But it showcases an essential part of my successful trading process:

We only focus on the best setups and we always trade with a plan.

Nobody knew MGOL was going to spike 570%. But because I focus on volatile stocks with a big percent gain, there was more room for error when I took 5%.

For contrast, larger stocks are lucky to move 5% intraday, in totality … 

Now, we still have to be diligent when trading big percent gainers. MGOL is a trashy penny stock. It spiked impressively yesterday but the momentum won’t last forever. The price will likely crash down to where it started eventually.

That’s why I use Breaking News to get ahead of the curve!

My students and I got an alert on Tuesday morning after MGOL announced it had filed its Form 10-Q for the company’s earnings.

See the chart below, every candle represents one trading minute:

MGOL chart intraday, 1-minute candles Source: StocksToTrade

>> Don’t miss the next Breaking News alert <<

These spikes can be fast. MGOL spiked 570%* before noon.

Traders who want the most opportunity to profit should be glued to the Breaking News scan.

Once I get an alert from the system, I wait for the price action to match my trading framework.

Not familiar with my trading framework? See the post below:

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

Like when they have a few thousand dollars in a stock spiking +100% intraday.*

Study up.

And make sure to join the next live stream if you have any questions.

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. 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”