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The Best 15-Minute Window To Trade?

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Written by Timothy Sykes Reviewed by Matt Monaco Fact-checked by Jeff Zananiri
Updated 9/16/2026 7 min read
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I’ve been talking a LOT about after-hours trading recently.

And it might seem repetitive.

But understand that my goal is to help you access this…

Yes, freedom

And I believe it is possible for anyone with the right mindset and the right tools.

I see it as my duty to help people just like you navigate the learning curve.

So, I’ll continue to talk about what I think is the single best strategy in years.

I’ve put two years into studying this 15-minute window of opportunity.

So, I understand what it’s like to be in learning mode again.

And that’s exactly why I want to share this with you today…

3 Reasons Why I Think After-Hours Trading Is Best

There are a lot of reasons I think the after-hours 15-minute window is best right now, but three stand out in my mind…

Reason #1: No Volatility Halts

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Let’s look at an example from Tuesday (Sept. 15) because it is SO clear…

Keep in mind that this happens all the time. In fact, it’s one of the reasons I started studying this two years ago.

Check out the ReTo Eco-Solution, Inc. (NASDAQ: RETO) chart below…

RETO, 9/15/26, 1-min candles, regular hours, volatility halts
RETO, 9/15/26, 1-min candles, regular hours, volatility halts

Do you see all those gaps between candles? Those are volatility halts.

Getting caught in a halt means you have to sit and wait, hoping that it goes the right direction coming out of the halt.

Worse, even when you can see what direction it will move, it forces you to make a choice between trying to cut the trade or hoping it doesn’t halt again.

I can tell you from experience that it is NOT fun. Why add that level of stress to your trading day?

Now check out the RETO chart with the after-hours session added…

RETO, 9/15/26, 1-min candles, after-hours spike
RETO, 9/15/26, 1-min candles, after-hours spike

In after-hours trading there are no volatility halts. Which means in most cases the price action is a lot smoother.

That said, RETO spiked +180% in 5 minutes…

RETO, 9/15/26, 1-min candles, after-hours only, +180% in 5-minutes
RETO, 9/15/26, 1-min candles, after-hours only, +180% in 5-minutes

Crazy, right? Which leads me to…

Reason #2: After-Hours Short Squeezes Are Better

There are SO many overaggressive, dumb short sellers right now that it makes me laugh.

Short sellers – thank you for your sacrifice! We are eternally grateful for the opportunities you provide!

The crazy thing is that the short sellers aren’t wrong, they just have zero discipline or patience.

So, they get chopped around all day with the halts, convinced that it’s FINALLY going to zero…

Only to get DECIMATED when they all try to get out at the same time going into the close.

Because, as soon as after-hours hits and the halts stop…

Short squeeeeeeeeze SUPERNOVA!

As if no halts and better short squeezes aren’t enough, there’s one more counterintuitive reason I LOVE after-hours trading…

Reason #3: After-Hours Is “The New OTC”

Over the past few months (since the end of the PDT rule) after-hours trading has been on fire.

I think it’s partly because the OTC traders who stopped trading (or moved on to something else) are finding their way back.

In case you don’t remember, OTCs changed in late 2021 after the SEC imposed strict disclosure requirements.

OTC trading volume dropped significantly (and hasn’t really recovered).

A lot of traders weren’t prepared for the volatility halts when they tried to make the switch from OTCs to listed stocks.

Slowly but surely, many of them discovered after-hours. Right now, after-hours trading is the closest thing I’ve seen to the old OTCs.

Millionaire Moves

One thing many of my newer students have mentioned is that after-hours trading looks scary.

Thankfully, millionaire student-turned-mentor Bryce Touhey is helping me teach people how to capitalize on after-hours moves…

Also, remember that if you trade scared, trading isn’t scary. I ALWAYS encourage people to do two things:

  1. Start small
  2. Lock in gains fast

The cool thing is, people are selling too early, which is fine (welcome to my life over the past 25+ years).

But here’s what too early means…

Students are making a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, selling too soon!*

It’s part of the process. If making $300 doesn’t sound amazing…

Remember that you’re training so that you can take bigger size with more expertise and experience later on.

Understand that two years from now, you can do the exact same trade with bigger position size.

So, I encourage you to start small and start learning today…

LIVE Today At 2PM ET – 15-Minute Millionaire Summit

Why do I keep going live this week? Because this is SO important.

What I’ve been sharing, and will share again today, is the single most important strategy I’ve shared since before COVID.

Get ready to discover how to capitalize on these small windows of opportunity.

Yes, Tim! I’m ready to learn about the 15-minute window today

Come ready to take notes.

Key Takeaway

So far this week we’ve seen several big after-hours winners (and it happens almost every single day).

But to capitalize you have to identify potential movers (and be ready to act fast).

That’s why I’ve been going live to present my free masterclass.

I want you to be successful, and for me this is the single best strategy in the market right now.

See you there.

Cheers,

– Tim Sykes

*Results not typical. Past performance is not indicative of 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.
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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”