Tim Sykes opened up in a recent YouTube video about the one aspect of trading he struggles with. Patience. “I admit, I have no patience,” he said. “You’ll see me get in and out of a stock in a few hours, maybe even in a few minutes. I can’t even last more than like a day. I have trouble holding more than one or two stocks at a time. I’m like very ADD. No, I’m not on any Adderall, I’m not on any drugs. I just recognize what I’m good at.” Scroll down for more on this Timothy Sykes confessional.
Tim’s number one student, Tim Grittani, who turned fifteen hundred bucks into more than twelve million over the span of a decade, has much more patience. “He is the master of patience,” Sykes said of his star pupil. “The way that he’s made so much money is because he gives time to setups that are ideal. Whether it’s buying a multi-day breakout or whatever it is, he has patience.”
Roland, another guy who studied under Tim, also leverages his patience to produce market-smashing gains. He now proudly calls himself a millionaire trader. Same goes for Kyle Williams who recently crossed over seven figures in profits. “All of these students are very atypical in an industry where most traders lose; and a lot of it is because they have patience on the right setups,” Tim explained.
The point isn’t just to have patience across the board; to just buy and hold for the long term; to stop studying and become a boring Buffett type. No. Have patience on A-plus setups, is what Tim is trying to get across. Even that won’t be much fun. Sometimes it’s scary, holding on longer than you’d like to. It’s mentally taxing. You have to watch your stock very closely, like a newborn baby.
Of course, it’s worth it. There is big money to be made if you can exercise patience on these picture perfect setups. Tim is working on his patience. He’s still improving as a trader, even twenty-plus years into his career. There’s different kinds of patience. Even just knowing when to hold a few more minutes can give you a leg up. Start small, Sykes warns. As much as everyone wants big profits right off the bat, you need to walk before you run.
If you get too aggressive before you have a strong foundation of education and experience, you will get annihilated. Understand that no two traders are created equal. Everyone is at a different point in their journey. The moves Tim Grittani makes might not be the best ones for you to make. His stack is bigger. His goals are different. His feel for the game is far more advanced than someone who just started day trading.
“I’m not gonna be right a hundred percent of the time,” Sykes said. “But if I’m wrong, I’m not embarrassed. Ya know? Like there’s this whole like gotcha sort of thing on the internet, where everyone’s like, ‘You were wrong this time. Gotcha!’ So what? I’m wrong a third of the time. It’s not the end of the world. If I’m wrong though, I’m able to cut my losses quickly.” For more trading insights from Tim Sykes, check out his book, An American Hedge Fund. Or, click below for a safer way to build your net worth.
