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The 24-Year-Old Millionaire Software Engineer

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Written by Timothy Sykes
Updated 9/13/2022 5 min read

Big bank accounts don’t prove you’re a good trader. They just show that you hit some nice wins.

The real test of a trader’s metal is their ability to help others become successful in their own right.

I’m proud to claim more than 20 students I mentored into true millionaire traders.

These folks come from across the spectrum, with some like Mariana HITTING THE MILLIONAIRE MILESTONE BY 20!

So, when Business Insider published a story about Matt Monaco, I had to share it with you.

Matt was studying at Rochester Institute of Technology to become a software engineer.

After a few internships, he realized it wasn’t for him, leading him to search for online money-making opportunities.

And that’s when he fell into trading.

Taking the principles I teach, Matt created a unique style he deploys on everything from small caps to crypto.

Despite the wide variety of assets Matt trades, it all comes down to a few key points.

Maintaining Discipline

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At one point, Matt had no more than $2,000 in his trading account.

This meant he fell under the Pattern Day Trading rule (PDT) which limits a trader to three roundtrip trades in five trading sessions.

That can be incredibly frustrating for someone who wants to actively trade.

Instead, Matt saw it as an opportunity and crafted a strategy around the PDT rule.

Typically, Matt lets the market open and spends the first 30-60 minutes of the day doing research.

He leverages the StocksToTrade platform to scan for the stocks making the biggest moves.

Generally, that narrows his search down to 10 to 15 stocks.

From there, he ignores the ones that already spiked 50% or more.

Whereas I prefer OTC stocks, Matt sticks mainly with listed stocks that have a float between 2-10 million shares and $500,000 a day in trading volume.

Like most of my students, Matt dives into why a stock is moving. That’s where the Breaking News chat room on StocksToTrade comes in.

The Breaking News team provides him with the latest headlines curated to the most active stocks and most important stories.

About three stocks generally make his watchlist when all is said and done.

…And then he walks away!

Unlike most of my other students who rely on the morning session, Matt focuses his trading on the end of the day.

From there, he comes back towards the close. As long as a stock has held up nicely, he looks to buy shares and hold into the next morning.

I find this strategy absolutely fascinating.

What’s impressive is how methodical it is and basically removes all the emotional swings from watching a chart all day.

This kind of strategy works incredibly well for someone who might work full-time but has a flexible schedule.

Understanding Risk

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Matt began trading seriously in late 2019 and began to turn a profit.

You might be surprised to learn he only won 40%-50% of his trades.

It all boiled down to risk management.

Matt’s wins were 2x-3x the size of his losers.

This feeds back into my mantra – cut losses quickly and keep them small.

While Matt doesn’t use automatic stop losses, he mentally moves up his stops as the price increases.

Additionally, Matt adds to his position as the stock climbs. However, the dollar value of the risk remains the same.

You can think of this as using the initial profits to reinvest in a new position.

Matt isn’t one to force trades and doesn’t consider the time spent taking a break as wasted.

More Breaking News

After watching other traders pull out their hair trying to find the next trade, he’s more than happy to wait for things to happen on his terms.

A Multi-Asset Trader

matt monaco in Italy
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Matt’s branched out from penny stocks and now trades everything from options to cryptocurrencies.

In fact, while everyone is shunning the crypto market, Matt thinks a monumental event is on the horizon.

That’s why he’s holding this one-time webinar to lay out his plan to take advantage of this incredible opportunity.

Click here to sign up for Matt’s upcoming event.


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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. Read More

* 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”