How To Start From Zero And Succeed

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Written by Timothy Sykes
Updated 10/1/2025 5 min read

Trading stocks is a lot like riding a bike.

Once you learn how, you never forget.

For example, the patterns that my millionaire students and I use to trade are always the same. We just apply them to the next hottest stock.

Day after day, week after week, month after month, etc.

But there is a key difference between trading and bicycling …

Trading is one of the hardest bikes you’ll ever learn to ride.

It can stir up a lot of emotion. There’s a lot going on in general. And success might feel impossible for traders who wander around the market without direction.

My millionaire students and I pull profits from the market over and over again. But that’s because we already know how to ride the bike.

What if I didn’t know how?

What if all my trading knowledge was wiped and I had to start from zero?

My Start From Zero

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Exposure and experience are key.

From the beginning, I would:

  • Look at stock charts.
  • Follow the biggest runners and the most popular names.
  • Notice how stocks move with different catalysts and at different price levels. Especially with respect to past price action.
  • Use different candle settings like 10-minute candles, 5-minute candles, etc.

At first, I would just watch as a bystander.

I don’t want to put too much weight on anything I see until I have a strategy to look for.

But I would definitely take mental notes to start building my memory bank of price action.

The patterns that we use to trade repeat over and over again in the market.

As a result, the more price action we see, the more confident we are in these patterns.

Pick One Or Two Patterns

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The framework that I use to trade has seven steps.

And there are multiple angles to profit within each step.

When faced with all of these opportunities, it’s easy for traders to get overwhelmed.

They try to chase every profit angle and end up confused and taking losses.

For this example, I’m starting from zero.

And I’m probably working a day job until I become self-sufficient as a trader … So I’m going to focus on one of two patterns:

    • Every Friday afternoon, again, due to my limited trading time.

My favorite pattern used to be panic dip buys.

But they happen right after the market opens at 9:30 A.M. Eastern. And due to my hypothetical work schedule, I can’t show up for those trades.

You have to be realistic with your process. Otherwise you’ll never reach your goals.

More Breaking News

Pick a pattern that works for you.

Take Some Trades

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This will be nerve racking.

Every trader that I’ve ever spoken with will admit that their first real trade was a stressful ordeal.

But with every additional trade, our emotions are dulled and the logic behind these patterns becomes more clear.

Start small at first. Paper trade if you need to.

But don’t shy away from using your positions as a tool to grow your trading expertise.

You’re not going to make a million dollars in your first few trades. But you won’t lose a million either.

So don’t sweat it.

Take notes. And track all your trades.

Start to notice where you find success. And more importantly, where you take too large of losses.

For an example of the importance behind tracking your trades …

My most successful student, Jack Kellogg, recently shared his first trade journal after learning my trade process in 2017.

Jack started with $7,500. And now he has $22.7 million in trading profits (including losses).

Watch the video below to see Jack’s first trade journal:

There is a process for success in the market.

I just shared how I would make it back after losing everything.

Even my trading knowledge.

Take this information and run with it.

Cheers

 

*Past performance does not indicate 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”

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