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Penny Stock Basics

5 Ways To Grow Your Account

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Written by Timothy Sykes
Updated 3/20/2023 8 min read

A question I get asked often is  “how do I grow my account exponentially?” Considering that earning 10-20% per year is considered “great” on Wall Street, when I start talking about 100-200% yearly returns** instead, people get VERY interested and EVERYONE I talk to wants to be my next Millionaire Trading Challenge student…and why wouldn’t they after seeing my top students performance charts like the ones below:

I’m SO excited to FINALLY reveal this, whewwwwwww have we got some amazing stuff planned for you at my upcoming conference in just a few months! Go HERE ASAP to get on the earlybird list and save $1,000+ off the regular ticket price.

But because I also have thousands of students, having less than half a dozen truly successful students means it has to be luck, right?

After all, we trade penny stocks and nobody in the history of the world has EVER consistently made money on these junky stocks, and certainly, no credible Wall Streeter would ever recommend people trade these kinds of stocks, right?

When I first wrote my best-selling book (which you can get for FREE HERE) several “financial experts” told me straight up that I was crazy if I thought average retail investors and traders would understand my niche strategy that was VERY far from the typical “buy and hold good quality companies and you’ll be rewarded over time” that is the mainstream’s main investment strategy, a strategy that AT BEST earns them 10-20% per year which to me is just shit.

So, it’s ENTIRELY up to you, NOBODY is forcing you AT ALL as the beauty of being real in an industry full of scams is that I don’t need ANY doubters as students (as they, along with lazy students, make for shitty students that waste my time, making me repeat myself and not being willing to put in the thousands of hours required to truly become my next Millionaire student) so feel free to ignore me and key trading rules like these and my weird strategy focused entirely on the highly questionable little niche of penny stocks that 99.99% of the world hates on every single day…but if you want 100-200% returns, which you should, especially since 10-20% per year doesn’t move the needle if you’re like most of my students who have $2,000, $5,000 or $10,000 to their name, then keep reading.

Because aside from those truly awesome profit charts from my top trading challenge students, and mind you those guys aren’t just my students anymore, they give other Trading Challenge students live trading and Q&A webinars and mentor other trading challenge students now too alongside me, we also have several students who haven’t necessarily made $1 million or even $500,000 and not even a “lowly” $250,000…no instead they’re just passing $100,000 in profits now and you can read about them in GREAT posts like “10 Lessons From Another Student Who Just Passed $100,000 In Profits” and in this video too:**

And forget about great success, remember the ugly stat that 90%+ of traders LOSE, so any gains whatsoever are a gift and if you can learn any strategy that offers consistent profits, or even somewhat consistent profits, well, then you don’t even need to make six-figures or seven-figures to be considered truly successful in this niche, here’s one of my Trading Challenge students who trades with a VERY small account and just passed $10,000 in profits

And yes, while I do have thousands of students, a mere 500 or so bother watching ALL my video lessons, DVDs and webinars and out of those who take their education that seriously, it’s actually a surprisingly high number of them who have found success.

This is the beauty of learning to grow an account exponentially, it’s NOT about making millions or tens of millions of dollars in the first year or two, it’s learning and practicing good habits so that you can grow your account exponentially OVER TIME and it takes a ton of time when you first start with just a few thousand dollars and that’s okay if you’re prepared for that from the get go like I would prefer…NEVER forget that my top students have reached seven-figures only after several years and literally THOUSANDS OF HOURS OF HARD WORK AND STUDY.

I keep mentioning THOUSANDS OF HOURS OF HARD WORK AND STUDY because it’s true as there is no exact formula here, it’s just learning rules, patterns and discipline and adapting to whatever opportunities the stock markets brings us each day, each week, each month, and each year and being ready to capitalize on only the best plays, if you’re patient enough.

Enough of all the general stuff, let’s get to the good stuff that actually grows your account exponentially:

1. Here’s a video lesson I made in the middle of the night last night, it makes some good points although you’ll have to excuse me for being a bit tired, I’ve been doing some badass charity work all day lately, then going to work late night (that’s the kind of work ethic you’ll need to be successful in life):

2. Watch this CLASSIC video lesson specifically on how to grow a small account, the strategy IS different from the one you would use if you are trading with a big account (hence why I can do everything I do from a single laptop from ANYWHERE in the world, not multi-screen monitor or big fancy office in NYC required)

3. Understand the account minimums and work/study minimums required to succeed by reading this blog post “What’s The Minimum Needed To Trade Penny Stocks?” and this blog post too “What Is the Pattern Day Trader Rule And Why You Do NOT Need $25,000 To Trade Stocks

4. Stop trying ANY strategy that is mainstream, while also avoiding strategies where you can’t cut losses quickly (options trading), where there’s too much competition from the richest/most powerful people in the world of finance so your odds of success are pathetic (forex), and also avoid outright scams like binary options that is getting shut down in more and more countries, thankfully, but still some desperate people turn to it and that’s just sad.

5. Get the right mindset needed to grow an account exponentially, it doesn’t happen overnight and that’s a good thing because it forces you to study a lot at first to have the best chance at success. If you don’t study or expect success right away, YOU WILL FAIL. The good news is that while it’s tough, it’s not that complicated if you’ve read my free guide like this so no matter how much you study, you can understand EVERYTHING within 1-2 years or 3 years at worst if you’re slow like Forrest Gump. Read this blog post “Are You Studying And Working The Wrong Way?” and this one too “A Key Trait You Need To Become A Millionaire” for some more background info and also watch these 2 video lessons below too:

And before I forget if you find this blog post useful, please leave a comment and tell me EXACTLY what you learned and which, if any, of these bullet points #1-5 resonate with you the most!


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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. Read More

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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”