This week has been a huge week for many of my top students — especially Matthew Monaco, a college trader from New York.
As of this week, Matthew, another one of my dedicated Challenge students, officially passed $100K in trading profits!*
Being a six-figure penny stock trader is one of the first big milestones in your trading careers, and I couldn’t be happier for Matt.
He’s been a Trading Challenge student for nearly three years now. And he’s shown some extreme dedication to trading and learning.
(*Matt’s trading results are NOT typical. Roughly 90% of traders lose. Always remember trading is risky, and never risk more than you can afford.)
In fact, most of Matt’s $100K profits came while he was still a college trader. And after making $100K from trading while only 22 years old, how much will Matt need his college degree? Only Matt can answer that question … if he continues to stay disciplined, I see a bright future ahead of him.
I am SO proud of this dedicated https://t.co/EcfUM63rtt student, I'm about to start a weekly webinar with them, but I LOVE seeing milestones hit, yesterday @clayruf passed $100k in profits too, remember small gains add up, congrats to everyone on $GNUS $MARK $CIDM what a day! https://t.co/eJSmhYft4i
— Timothy Sykes (@timothysykes) June 3, 2020
Table of Contents
How Matt Got on the Top Trader Track
Matt seems to be on the same track as so many of my other top students. He didn’t make six-figures in trading profits by getting ‘lucky.’ His success didn’t happen overnight, and he doesn’t make random trades.
Just check out his profit chart, as well as all his verified trades along the way.
To me, his profit curve shows more than his ability to make money. Sure — this college trader’s milestone is impressive, and I’m SO proud of him…
But I’m more proud of his trading discipline. That’s what his profit curve shows me — discipline. He doesn’t have any massive losses. His average gain is about $322 per trade.
Wall Street would laugh at those gains. But for everyday people, that’s nothing to laugh at. Those singles add up. And cutting losses quickly — my number-one rule for all traders — like Matt does … that’s key to growing a small account.
So how did Matt get here? How did he go from college trader to hitting a huge trading milestone? Again, it’s all about discipline. Can you work like Matt did to get where he is today? That’s the question you have to ask yourself.
Here’s some inspiration…
I recently interviewed Matt, and he told me about how he worked his butt off to grow his trading account.
Let’s take a closer look at Matt’s mindset and determination that got him to $100K in trading profits.
Matt’s Humble Beginnings as a College Trader
Matt just graduated from college with a degree in software engineering … Doesn’t seem likely that he’ll be using that degree.
But Matt wasn’t actually a college trader when he found me. He learned about me when he was in high school — about three years before he joined my Trading Challenge program.
Matt says he’s always had a “hustler” mindset. He always looks for new ways to make money. When he puts his mind to something, he’s all in. To me, it sounds like a solid background for a dedicated student.
Eventually, Matt had enough money to apply to my Trading Challenge and got in. Matt reports this was the true beginning of his trading career.
Like most new students, he was completely new to trading. He’d never even placed a trade before. And he knew very little about the stock market.
(New to the market? Check out “The Complete Penny Stock Course” by my student Jamil. It covers the basics and my core lessons.)
At this point in Matt’s trading journey, he’d just finished up his freshman year of college and was heading into summer. That’s what he says for him was the “perfect time to study as much as possible.”
In fact, Matt even passed up a paid internship after his freshman year of college to learn how to trade by watching all my DVDs, webinars, and all the other resources I provide to my Challenge students.
Sure seems to have paid off for him now…
More Breaking News
- Arqit’s Quantum Leap: Will the Price Target Boost Take the Stock Higher?
- Clearwater Paper Corporation: Is an Acquisition in the Horizon?
- Oklo Powers Up: Analyzing Recent Market Surge
And even after all that studying, Matt still hadn’t placed a trade. He studied his butt off for a few months. So why not jump in? According to Matt, he wanted to have the advantage of knowledge on his side when he was ready to start trading.
What Every Trader Must Understand
After studying for a whole summer, Matt thought he was ready to start trading and making millions…
But that didn’t quite happen. Trading takes so much time and dedication. You have to really love it, and even then, it may not work out for you.
Matt’s far from being alone in working his way up slowly over time. My top Challenge student Tim Grittani has far surpassed my trading ability and profits. And it took him nine months to trade consistently.
Matt was only about three months into studying when he started trading.
I can’t say this enough: It takes time to learn how to trade. There are so many moving pieces and patterns…
So he understandably struggled in the beginning. That’s normal. It’s also why you have to…
Build Your Knowledge Account First
Most of my students don’t get this right away. There’s just so much to learn. In fact, I’m still learning every day. The market constantly changes. I have to take what I know and adapt. And to adapt well, I have to keep learning.
But you have to grow your knowledge account before you work on growing your money account. To do that well, you need to either paper trade or take small positions.
As he learned more about trading, Matt traded my patterns and learned how to stay disciplined. He took a lot of trades where he had too many shares or didn’t sell because he wanted the stock to keep running…
But those trades, along with my teaching, taught him valuable lessons.
From 2017–2019, Matt continued to take losses. But he reports that they got smaller and more controlled over time. Some months, he even came out profitable.
Remember, Matt was a college trader. So whenever he wasn’t trading or studying, he was in school. Matt has told me that he feels that impacted his ability to learn faster … which is understandable.
During my recent interview with Matt, he said that during those two years of consistently losing, he continued his side hustles. That helped him to keep building his account in the meantime.
I gotta say … I respect this so much. If you’re anything like my most successful students, you won’t get rich from trading overnight. If you need a job to help build your account and invest in your education, that’s OK.
It’s more than OK. That’s a smart way to start, and Matt’s trading journey is a great example of this.
From College Trader to Trading Success
Matt was unprofitable from 2017–2019, but by a small amount. He knew that he was making progress from all his studying, but it wasn’t all clicking together quite yet.
Around the beginning of 2019, Matt started a trading podcast with his roommate called Beyond the PDT. Their goal was to interview top traders who made it from beginner to consistent trader.
What’s funny is a lot of guests on that podcast were actually my students, like Jack Kellogg and Kyle Williams. They even interviewed me once.
According to Matt, this is when he saw his first glimpse of success. He had to work an internship for his degree for the first half of 2019 … But he saved all the money he made from that to build his trading account.
And since he met traders like Jack Kellogg and Kyle Williams through the podcast, that helped him in areas where he was still struggling. By the end of 2019, Matt started seeing his first real shot at consistently trading. His profitable months weren’t huge, but they were profitable.
But again…
Trading Success Doesn’t Happen Overnight
By the end of 2019, Matt had made almost $12K in trading profits. Not bad for a college trader.
But in 2020, Matt’s growth became exponential.
He had a strong start to the year. By February, Matt reports being up over $26,000 in his overall trading.*
Then in March, he got a little bit cocky. I’ve seen this A LOT with students who start finding trading success — their egos get too big. Heck, it’s happened to me.
Matt was on track for a $10,000 month by the end of March. Everything was working for him … trades were going well. Until…
He took a $5K+ loss at the beginning of the month. That cut his profits for the month in half. And according to Matt, the biggest reasons were greed and ego.
Learn from that mistake! Matt broke my number-one rule of cutting losses quickly, and it stung.
I teach trading rules for a reason, not to be a jerk. My haters don’t like me for that reason. They say I’m mean and too hard on students.
But the truth is, I’d never get my message across if I was nice all the time. Matt was lucky enough to still be profitable on the month after that loss. But that won’t always happen.
He also learned from that mistake, and so far, he hasn’t had another loss that big — yet. (Fingers crossed for you, Matt. Remember rule #1!)
And Matt followed up that big loss with a HUGE April and May. In April, Matt reports $18K in profits … and $48K in May. By the first week of June 2020, Matt crossed the $100K profit mark.*
I am SO proud of these hardworking https://t.co/EcfUM63rtt students for their awesome trades in May, @Jackaroo_Trades who made $70k, @mono_trader who made $48k, @traderkylec who made $32k & @SublimeTrades who made $22k, ALL will be millionaires soon if they keep learning/earning! pic.twitter.com/TzO9nPp5GV
— Timothy Sykes (@timothysykes) May 30, 2020
(*Matt’s results aren’t typical. He’s put in the time and dedication and has exceptional skills and knowledge. Most traders lose money. Always remember trading is risky … never risk more than you can afford.)
The College Trader Conclusion
At the end of the day, this is only the beginning of what should be an amazing trading career for my newest six-figure student, Matthew Monaco.
As a college trader, he faced a lot of issues and made a lot of sacrifices to make trading work — he has the dedication all my other top students have.
I asked Matt if he had anything he wanted to say about passing such a huge milestone in his trading. Here’s his advice:
“I wish I could say this happened overnight, but it didn’t. It took me three long years of studying every day. The market became an obsession, and I loved it. I think for anyone to make it in this game you have to truly love the market.
“I took drastic steps to make my dream of becoming a day trader a reality. I co-founded a trading podcast with my roommate, became a financial copywriter, and watched the market for 10–12 hours a day…
And it still took me almost three years to find success. For anyone struggling out there, my best advice is to just stick with it. Everything worth it will always take 10 times longer than you first think. Then, one day, if you keep working hard, success will sneak up on you.”
I really couldn’t have summed it up any better myself.
Join My Trading Challenge With Top Traders Like Matt
I’m so excited to see where Matt’s trading goes from here. He’s equipped with the right tools to keep growing … He’s committed to his education, he’s disciplined, and he understands that trading is a process that you can’t learn overnight.
We’re also in a crazy market. And I think this is an incredible time to learn. But you choose your level of commitment. You can follow me on YouTube for regular trading videos…
Access my FREE penny stock guide here…
You can sign up for my FREE watchlist here…
And you can sign up for PennystockingSilver to learn from my over 6,300 video lessons. But if you’re ready for the next level of penny stock education, apply for my Trading Challenge. It’s where all my top students are. You get access to live trading sessions with me and my top students, access to the best trading chat room ever, and so much more.
I’m truly excited to see where Matt’s trading journey takes him next. Do you have Matt’s level of commitment? Are you ready to see what you can accomplish as a trader? Apply for my Trading Challenge now!
Let me know in the comments … How does Matt’s college trader story inspire you? I love to hear from all of you!
Leave a reply