It’s Back: The Friday Setup That Just Paid Me

Written by Timothy Sykes Reviewed by Jack Kellogg Fact-checked by Ellis Hobbs

Updated 8/7/2025 4 min read

It’s Back: The Friday Setup That Just Paid Me Thumbnail

In this article

TMC+5.14%
TMC - NYSETMC the metals company Inc.
$5.57+0.27 (+5.14%)
Volume: 7.17M
Float: 203.55M
$5.22Day Low/High$5.61

Last Friday, while most traders clocked out early… I locked in profits before the weekend even started.

How?

A Friday afternoon setup that I’ve seen pay off again and again — especially when the market’s hot. Like it is right now.

This afternoon I’m looking for stocks with a mix of:

Low float
Strong news
Momentum holding into the close

And I’ve already got a few stocks on my radar today …

This pattern thrives when lazy traders are distracted. That’s exactly why it works so well on Friday afternoons.

I’ve traded it for years.

My top students, like Jack Kellogg ($20 million in trade profits) have also used it to grow their small accounts quickly.

And it’s setting up AGAIN today.

The entry window opens every Friday afternoon. The goal is to hold shares into the weekend ONLY if the setup checks all the boxes.

The risk level is tight and the reward can be fast — By Monday’s open at the latest.

Watch my video below for a full tutorial:

Be ready. Be alert.

These are the kinds of trades that can build small accounts — one clean setup at a time.

Last Week’s Price Action

On Friday, August 1, TMC The Metals Company Inc. (NASDAQ: TMC) was bouncing off of support at $5.50 after a 700%* spike in 2025.

TMC is a mining company based in the U.S. during a historic time of trade warfare that overwhelmingly targets technology and precious metals.

More Breaking News

As TMC bounced, I entered a trade in the afternoon.

And I sold my shares during after hours on Friday following a huge spike to new day highs.

My trade notes are below:

Source: Profit.ly

Here’s a multi-month chart of TMC.

You can see the support at $5.50 when the stock stalled at that level for a day in June. Then the stock bounces off of it momentarily in August.

Every candle represents one trading day:

TMC chart multi-month, 1-day candles — TMC chart multi-month, 1-day candles Source: StocksToTrade

Here’s the intraday price action from Friday, August 1 into Monday, August 4.

Every candle represents one trading minute:

TMC chart multi-day, 1-minute candles Source: StocksToTrade

I could have held shares into Monday morning for a larger spike, but a 16% profit is already a great trade.

Most hedge funds would be more than happy with a 16% gain on the year …

With my weekend pattern I can find 16% in less than 24 trading hours.

And right now, there are stocks setting up to spike higher on Monday.

Catch Today’s Weekend Runner!

Cheers

*Past performance does not indicate future results

How much has this post helped you?

(0 votes, average: 0 out of 5)

Leave a reply

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.

* 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”

Subscribe to receive notifications