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We Had A Year’s Worth of Gains in One Day

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Written by Timothy Sykes Reviewed by Jack Kellogg Fact-checked by Ellis Hobbs
Updated 1/15/2026 4 min read
We Had A Year’s Worth of Gains in One Day Thumbnail

2026 is only three weeks old. And it’s already more volatile than I anticipated.

There’s still time to climb on board …

My students and I are heading for gainsville!

The biggest runner from Wednesday, January 14, sent shockwaves through the small-cap sector. Right now we’re seeing multiple cheap stocks spike +100% intraday.*

And those percent gains can directly translate to our accounts.

It’s why small-cap stocks are perfect plays for small-account traders:

  •  The shares are cheap.
  • The percent gains are massive.

One of the market’s major indexes, the S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: $SPY), only returned 17% in 2025. And shares cost $600.

The biggest spiker from January 14 spiked 850%*. And it started the day below $4 per share.

Coincidentally, I pulled a 17% profit from the move. An entire year’s investment from the SPY, in a matter of minutes.

The Sector Leader

The ripple effect of stock spikes that we’re seeing in the market, these are called sympathy plays.

And we see them after a sector leader explodes to insane heights.

On January 14 we found our sector leader. High Roller Technologies Inc. (AMEX: $ROLR) spiked 850%* after the company announced a partnership with Crypto.com to enter the prediction market.

Plus, the float was only 2.4 million shares.

Look at the price explosion below that happened after the news broke during premarket hours. On the ROLR chart, every candle represents one trading minute:

ROLR chart intraday, 1-minute candles Source: StocksToTrade
ROLR chart intraday, 1-minute candles Source: StocksToTrade

Breaking News will alert these runners.

But even without the morning spike, there was enough volatility to see it on a simple “Percent Gainers” scan.

The price consolidated in the morning around $15. Then it surged higher into the afternoon.

I used a classic breakout strategy to trade this stock.

And we just saw the same pattern from a huge sympathy play on January 15, the day after ROLR’s incredible spike.

Sympathy Plays

Like I mentioned earlier, we’re seeing multiple small-cap spikes as a result of ROLR’s volatility on Wednesday.

  • Springview Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ: $SPHL) spiked 850%*.
  • Callan JMB Inc. (NASDAQ: $CJMB) spiked 400%*.
  • AuthID Inc Com (NASDAQ: $AUID) spiked 150%*
  • Bonk Inc. (NASDAQ: $BNKK) spiked 110%*
  • Moolec Science SA (NASDAQ: $MLEC) spiked 260%*

SPHL was the biggest sympathy spike thus far, effectively matching ROLR’s move.

The float is only 2.1 million shares. And during premarket on January 15, it announced a partnership with Jiangsu GSO New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. to introduce solar and green-energy solutions for residential housing in Singapore.

The price action followed the same breakout pattern.

Look at the chart below, every candle represents one trading minute:

SPHL chart intraday, 1-minute candles Source: StocksToTrade
SPHL chart intraday, 1-minute candles Source: StocksToTrade

I’m not the only one banking from these plays.

My students and I use the exact same strategy to trade explosive small-cap stocks, day after day.

Read my post below for some shoutouts:

This is just the beginning of the volatility that’s to come in 2026.

  • Banks show higher trading volume.
  • The AI chickens are coming home to roost.
  • The tariff chickens are coming home to roost.
  • There’s a new Fed pick on deck with rate cuts in view.
  • The labor market is still under pressure.

There are so many catalysts swirling in the larger market.

And all of that volatility trickles down to our favorite setups: Small-cap stocks that spike +100% intraday.

There’s still time for you to turn a new leaf in 2026.

Trade The Next Stock That Erupts 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”