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Stay Safe: My #1 Trading Mistake Right Now

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Written by Timothy Sykes Reviewed by Jack Kellogg Fact-checked by Ellis Hobbs
Updated 2/26/2025 4 min read
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As the market continues to move with unease … There’s a very important trading rule to pay attention to right now.

I made the mistake of ignoring this market phenomenon. And as a result, I gave up some losses recently.

For example, on February 26 I lost $867 on Interactive Strength Inc. (NASDAQ: TRNR), with a starting stake of $10,285.

The stock spiked 160%* that day. But I didn’t get to snag a chunk of the move 😩

We’ll look at the price action in today’s blog.

Learn from my mistakes right now! Only focus on the best setups …

My TRNR Trade

My trade notes are below:

TRNR stock trade notes
Source: Profit.ly

Here’s the area on the chart where I made the trade. Every candle represents one trading minute:

TRNR stock chart
TRNR chart intraday, 1-minute candles Source: StocksToTrade

With my 7-Step Framework, there are multiple opportunities to take gains from a single stock spike.

  • We can trade patterns as the price runs higher …
  • And we can trade patterns as the price crashes lower.

As the price crashes lower, I look for extended drops where the price could momentarily bounce and offer some profits.

But in this market, the back end plays are much weaker.

We’re seeing weakness in the larger market because:

  • There’s weaker consumer confidence due to Trump’s tariffs.
  • China is proving a formidable rival in the battle for AI supremacy.

And the momentum in the larger market trickles down to our favorite low-priced runners.

Now, this momentum could switch at any point. The market is unpredictable. That’s why we need to keep an eye on major indices to gauge sentiment every day.

Here’s a chart of the S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY). Every candle represents one trading day:

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

Until the momentum switches, my plan is to only focus on the front end of these stock spikes.

How To Find Front End Trades

It’s not rocket science.

The best spikes come from stocks that announce news.

Traders who find the stock early enough are sure to be on the front side of the spike.

On the TRNR chart from earlier in this blog, you can see the green news bubble where the company made an announcement.

Here’s the catalyst for the 160%* spike on February 26: TRNR posted a new FAQ section on its website. It stated that it was taking questions from shareholders about its recent acquisition agreement. The company also updated its revenue guidance for 2025 to more than $50 million.

In summary, it was acquisition news and an updated revenue projection.

We need to find these stocks as soon as they start to spike.

And there’s no better tool than StocksToTrade’s Breaking News service!

There’s a team of Wall Street insiders that run the Breaking News alert system to ensure that we have eyes on the biggest runners ASAP.

Watch the video below to see how it works:

One of the best examples this week was the double alert that we got for Wah Fu Education Group Limited (NASDAQ: WAFU).

Look at the notifications overlaid on the chart below, from February 24 and 25. Every candle represents one trading minute:

WABU stock alert
WAFU chart multi-day, 1-minute candles Source: StocksToTrade

Get the next Breaking News alert!

And pay attention to the front end of these spikes until the overall market momentum switches.

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”