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Trading Lessons

The Time Between Christmas and New Year Defines 2026

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Written by Timothy Sykes Reviewed by Jeff Zananiri Fact-checked by Ben Sturgill
Updated 12/26/2025 5 min read
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The presents are unwrapped. The cookies are gone. Maybe there’s a bit of holiday ham to remind us of our relaxing Christmas holiday week …

Now, it’s back to the battlefield.

The last trading week of the year is here, and things aren’t slowing down.

The market was shortened last week while small caps continued to spike. Even during historically lazier times to trade, holiday weeks, the opportunities keep coming.

And this week, the market is closed for New Year’s Day, Thursday, January 1.

Traders are back at their desks this morning, ready to capitalize on the end-of year momentum.

Everyone’s chasing a year-end window to lock in gains. Not to mention the institutional tax-loss selling that always promises volatility. Add that to the multitude of national economic catalysts swirling in the news …

There will be fireworks this week. And not just for New Year celebrations.

Reset After a Holiday Week

Every trader has the potential to rust a bit after a break.

The key is to look before you jump.

Volume will surge today, but that doesn’t mean you should trade every mover you see. The best traders treat the first couple of hours back like a warm-up lap, not a race.

Here’s my post-holiday checklist. The same one my top students use to find the cleanest setups while everyone else is shaking off eggnog brain:

  • A stock under $5 per share.
    • Cheap stocks move fast. That’s our playground.
  • At least a +20% intraday spike.
    • No spike, no trade. If it’s not moving, it’s not worth our time.
  • Volume above 1 million shares.
    • Liquidity means control. Without it, your entry and exit don’t matter.
  • A float below 10 million.
    • A low float equals a potential for a larger spike. That’s where the magic happens.
  • A real catalyst.
    • Don’t trade noise. Trade news. Earnings, partnerships, contracts, filings, something real that moves price.
  • A pattern I recognize.
    • First green day, morning panic dip buy, or breakout. I only trade the ones I’ve studied a thousand times.

Stick to the checklist.

It’s how I force myself to focus on the best plays and minimize the risk of trading with holiday brain fog.

Don’t Chase – React With Precision

After the holidays, traders love to chase anything that’s up 50% on the day.

That’s how accounts die in the last week of the year.

Instead, wait for price-action confirmation.

Let the early runners exhaust themselves, then trade the secondary plays. Dip buys, breakouts over morning highs, bounces off of VWAP.

More Breaking News

We’re not swinging for the fences. We’re just taking the meat of the move with trade patterns that repeat in the market.

Cut Losses Faster Than Ever

Volatility cuts both ways.

The same energy that fuels 100% moves can crush you just as fast. That’s why the first rule never changes: Cut losses quickly.

It’s not about being perfect. It’s about staying alive. Protect your capital and you’ll still be in the game when the next perfect setup appears.

Ego kills traders in December more than any other time. Don’t be the one trying to “make back” what you missed during the Christmas break.

Trade small, trade smart, and remember, the goal isn’t to trade more. It’s to trade better.

Make This Week Count

This is the final sprint before the new year.

And it’s our chance to prepare for 2026.

Review your trades. Study the charts. Reconnect with your trading process.

Because the traders who start strong in January are the same ones who used the last week of 2025 to shake off the rust and get focused again.

Wake up early this week. Watch premarket hours. Track the highest percent gainers trading the largest volume.

And as always, cut losses quickly to stay disciplined.

Let’s end 2025 the same way we started it: Trading smart, staying humble, and learning from every single move in the market.

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.
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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”