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Mentor Updates

Millionaire Mentor Update: Learn Before You Earn

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Written by Timothy Sykes
Updated 1/5/2023 13 min read

I hope you enjoyed the Memorial Day weekend and studied. Remember, the most success comes over time. So when there’s a day off from trading, use it to build your knowledge account.

There’s no such thing as overnight success. What can you do today to speed up your learning curve? What can you do today to set yourself up for next week or next year?

Keep reading for more about the ‘learn before you earn’ mindset. First…

Karmagawa Proudly Announces the Mariana Hincapie School

I’m proud to announce the opening of Karmagawa’s 86th school project in honor of my first female millionaire student, Mariana.*

Congratulations, Mariana!

Every school project is one step closer to our 1,000 school goal. Like and share the tweet. Help spread the word. One school and one student at a time, we can make a difference!

I’m also proud to announce…

Karmagawa Donation to the Žarkovica Animal Shelter in Dubrovnik

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We’re proud to donate to the Žarkovica Animal Shelter which is home to, on average, 300 dogs. They’re doing great work and need support.

Check out the Žarkovica Animal Shelter website. Again, help us to spread the word by sharing on social media.

Let’s talk about trading…

Learn Before You Earn

I love it when my students post small gains or losses on social media and promoters try to rip them. It’s beautiful. The promoters don’t realize I actually teach students to start small. Ripping on a student who trusts the process shows the promoters’ misguided mentality.

You should start small, build confidence, and gain experience. I encourage you to post your small gains and losses on social media. Then watch the unethical promoters come after you. Ignore them and trust the process. Believe in small gains.

Every small win or loss is a deposit into your knowledge account. Trade small enough in the beginning that you can forget about the money. Then learn the lesson from every trade. Come at it with a mindset of…

Learn before you earn. This video should help…

How Two Words Can Make You a Better Trader

You don’t even need to take notes, just repeat after me…

Keep repeating that every day. Tell yourself once an hour if necessary. Now it’s time for…

Trading Mentor: Questions From Students

The first question this week comes from a student who’s been studying so much he almost has a fear of trading. That’s not such a bad thing in the beginning. Trade scared so trading isn’t scary…

More Breaking News

“I’ve been studying for the past three months because I didn’t feel ready. Now I’m scared to trade. How do I overcome those demons?”

tim sykes in sedona arizona with laptop of stock chart
© Millionaire Media, LLC

Paper trade or trade with 100 shares. The money you make or lose in the beginning won’t be life-changing. Sorry to burst that bubble.

Tim Grittani didn’t make anything his first nine months. Jack Kellogg made nothing his first 20 months. Once you learn to expect nothing in the beginning, you won’t be so scared. Then you can gain experience trading 100, 200, or 500 shares.

If you go back and look at my top students, they all started small. They were making or losing $10 or $20 per trade. So keep things in perspective. Remember, learn before you earn.

Next question…

“What holds most people back from becoming a millionaire?”

Many people have the desire but lack patience and the right education. And, dedication plays a big role…

You have to realize that it’s most frustrating and tough in the beginning. That’s when most people give up. If you study the right way, it seems like you can’t make enough money. It is what it is…

supernova placement

You have to go through hardships in the beginning. You have to go through the tough stuff. It gets easier over time. But I should caution you…

It’s not a straight line. You can’t expect day 56 to be easier or better than day 33 of your journey. Sometimes you have to take a step backward.

You might think “Hey, I got this…”  and get cocky. You might bet too big. Or break your trading plan and hold too long. Then the market humbles you. Suddenly you’re not as smart as you thought. But the lesson you learn helps you trade smarter over time.

It sounds weird, but sometimes you have to lose. You have to go back a step or go through losses. You have to go through the struggles because that’s what can help you get to the next level.

Next question…

“How do I keep my equity curve trending up instead of going sideways?”

Change your perspective…

Don’t worry about your equity curve. Take it one trade at a time. Thinking “I have to make $500…” or “I have to keep my equity curve growing” is BS. You have to think about the market and trading in a counterintuitive fashion.

You have to accept that you can’t control the market. Sometimes you’ll lose. Sometimes the market will be slow. And sometimes you’ll have to go backward to go forward over time. Once you start accepting that, things get easier.

Final question for this edition of the update. This keeps coming up…

“Why are you using your old laptop?”

tim sykes in yosemite
© Millionaire Media, LLC

I used my new laptop for three days in a row. That was when the market dropped. I shouldn’t be superstitious. And deep down inside I know my laptop has nothing to do with the market, but I can’t help it.

Now I’m using my old laptop and we’re seeing some solid plays. It wouldn’t surprise me if this is a simulation. Elon Musk might be right. I can’t explain it but I’ll keep using this old laptop now as long as I can.

Trade Review

This week’s trade review covers three trades of one stock. The first was actually my best trade from two weeks ago. Remember, every trade has a lesson. Which is why you MUST review your trades.

Majic Wheels Corporation (OTCPK: MJWL)

In early May, Majic Wheels announced it was entering the fintech sector. That news started a steady uptrend.

On May 21, the company announced a $150 million blockchain acquisition. Then, at around 3:15 p.m. Eastern, the company tweeted “…more details next week.” That turned what was already a big percent winner into an even bigger upcoming news play.

Here’s the MJWL chart from May 21 with my entry and exit. It also shows when the news was released and the timing of the company’s tweet.

MJWL penny stock chart with entires and exits
MJWL chart: May 21, breaking news play, afternoon breakout — courtesy of StocksToTrade.com

As you can see, the stock had already spiked and consolidated. And it was already breaking out over the previous high of day when the company tweeted. But the tweet, which was alerted by StocksToTrade Breaking News, spiked the stock.

I considered holding MJWL over the weekend. But when it met my goals, I was happy to take the single for a $2,236 profit.* Since it didn’t close strongly, I was happy to not have to stress about it over the weekend.

The next two trades were on May 24. And the second of the two was my biggest percentage win last week…

Focus on Multi-Day Runners

When I teach students to focus on big percent gainers, it’s not only for one day. You should look for the big percent gainers over two, three, or five days. When a stock proves it can run, it creates a lot of opportunities.

MJWL kept running on Monday. Traders who saw the news over the weekend got excited, creating a big morning spike.

Here’s the MJWL chart from May 24 showing my entries and exits…

MJWL stock chart with trades
MJWL chart: May 24, dip buy off morning spike, HOD breakout — courtesy of StocksToTrade.com

The first trade on the chart was a partial fill on the dip off the highs. I missed the initial spike. It bounced back near the highs but not much more so I took the single to be safe.

After MJWL pulled back and bounced, I bought the breakout over the previous high of day. It was a 22% win for $2,484 in profit and a solid start to the week.*

Millionaire Mentor Market Wrap

buy the rumor sell the news frequent questions
© Millionaire Media, LLC

Trading is something you have to learn for life. But the hardest part is in the beginning. Most newbies see others on social media or in the chat room making money and think it should happen fast.

Change your perspective to one of learning first. Then trust the process. Learn before you earn.

You have two choices…

Trust the process and don’t worry about how much you make in the beginning. Or believe the promoters, liars, and scumbags who tell you trading is easy.

If you want to trust the process, start here…

30-Day Bootcamp

The 30-Day Bootcamp covers all the basics of my strategies. I highly recommend all students watch it multiple times. It covers key foundational material that makes everything else make more sense. Start your 30-Day Bootcamp today.

Then, when you’re ready…

Trading Challenge

The Trading Challenge is my most comprehensive educational offering. You get access to so much information that you might feel overwhelmed at first. Just like trading, the Trading Challenge is one day at a time. Use it to help build your daily study and trading habits. Apply for the Trading Challenge today.

Are you willing to learn before you earn? If so, comment below with “I will focus on learning first!” 

Disclaimer

*Mariana’s and Tim’s trading results are not typical and do not reflect the experience of the majority of individuals in the Trading Challenge. From January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020, typical users of the products and services offered by this website reported earning, on average, an estimated $49.91 in profit. This figure is taken from tracking user accounts on Profit.ly, a trading community platform. Timothy Sykes has a minority shareholder interest in the platform.


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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”