Mariana is a trailblazing student.
Not only is she my first female millionaire student, but also the youngest. She was just 20 years old when she passed seven figures in trading profits.
I’m so inspired by Mariana’s trading journey that I dedicated my 86th Karmagawa school to her:
She may be young, but Mariana’s success is no accident. Her story is the perfect illustration of “preparation meets opportunity” — and the results are extraordinary.
Here are Mariana’s guiding principles:
• Grind every day and STAY HUMBLE.
• Be willing to adapt.
• Use trading tools to track opportunities.
• Keep learning every day.
It’s an honor to share her $1 million trading milestone…
(*Please note that Mariana’s trading results are not typical. Most traders lose money. Individual results will vary. Trading is inherently risky. Before making any trades, remember to do your due diligence and never risk more than you can afford to lose.)
That said, Mariana’s success is no accident. She’s an extremely disciplined and meticulous trader … She studies hard and constantly works to refine her process.
I want everyone to be inspired by this post, but I want female traders in particular to take note. We need more female traders!
Let’s take a look at how Mariana made this incredible $1 million trading milestone a reality…
Newbie to $1 Million: Mariana’s Journey
Mariana’s dad urged her to find a career where she could support herself. She gravitated toward the stock market and joined my Trading Challenge right after high school.
Mari didn’t get serious until 2019. Early on, she lost — like most traders.
She wasn’t passionate from the start. In fact, Marianna didn’t really use my resources until about a year in!
Everything changed when she went to one of my trading summits in 2019.
She was inspired by my top students’ stories. That’s when she knew she wanted to get in on the penny stock game.
She started studying and trading … Instead of choosing to paper trade at first, she started with small positions.
Note: I’m not saying I suggest that approach. For some traders, paper trading, or virtual trading, is a great way to test strategies.
It’s how some learn how trading works without putting real money on the line. Every trader’s different.
Mariana wasn’t perfect. Soon after she started trading with her $15K account, she’d lost $3,000.
That’s when she quickly realized she needed to refine her strategy. Here’s what happened next…
This Mindset Shift Changed Everything
I’ve gotta tell you something about Mariana.
You’ve never seen someone eat crème brûlée as slowly and patiently as she does. Trust me, I’ve hung out with her. I’ve seen it.
Me, I’m not so patient. Give me some crème brûlée and I’ll hoover it in like 30 seconds…
I’m not just sharing top student trivia … I’m demonstrating Mariana’s high level of patience, discipline, and restraint.
She’s just as deliberate about trading as she is about enjoying crème brûlée.
After her initial losses when she started trading, Mariana knew she had to make some changes. That led to a big realization…
If she wanted to be in this game for the long haul, she needed to invest in her education.
She recognized that to do that, she’d need to focus on screen time over profits.
In short … Mariana realized it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
This mindset shift helped her make the following changes…
1. She Scaled Down Her Positions
Mariana shares that sometimes she’d trade as few as 100 shares of a stock.
Those small trades weren’t about money. They were about something way more important.
As she puts it, “I wanted to learn and to see how trading felt.”
She was training her mind and instincts to become a better trader. Why can’t I get more people to do this?
2. She Studied Harder
Mariana also hit the books — and videos, and webinars, and blog posts…
She also observed and studied the traders who worked their way through the Challenge to become top traders.
This helped her learn how top traders think and approach trades — and that helped her develop her own strategy.
She also studied herself. She reviewed all of her trades to see where she could improve and how to keep getting better.
3. She Got Way Smarter About Cutting Losses
Cutting losses is my #1 rule … It’s important, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.
Mariana has trained herself to be extreme about cutting losses.
She told me about how she took a notable loss. It hurt, but it could have been far worse if she’d been a bag holder.
At the time, her biggest loss had been $400. She’s had a few bigger ones since then … But overall, Mariana is known for being extra-conservative.
She believes that it’s vital for traders to ditch their need to be right about trades. After all, you can be right and still lose money! It’s not personal. That’s just how the market works.
When she took these steps and started zeroing in on a few key setups, Mariana started to see exponential growth…
This Strategy Led to Mariana’s Success
Mariana’s favorite setup? That’s easy. Buying dips.
Early on, she started dip buying Nasdaq stocks and OTCs. As she started to get the hang of dip buys and the process made sense to her, she started to tinker and refine her strategy.
Dip buying is a fairly simple strategy, but it can be tricky to time it right. For Mariana, it’s a careful balance of being patient but also very quick.
That might sound confusing, but it actually makes a lot of sense…
• You have to be patient about waiting for the right setups.
• Then, when the right setup does come along, you have to be quick to react — and quick to cut losses if the trade goes against you.
Mariana tries to wait for truly excellent setups. She avoids choppy price action. That’s because she knows herself and that, for her, it can lead to emotional trading.
Way to go, Mariana. Don’t be a bag holder!
When Mariana sees potential dip buys that are out of her comfort zone, she adjusts accordingly.
When she’s not totally comfortable with a trade, she takes extra steps.
For one, she double-checks that the stock doesn’t have bad news. And she’s even more disciplined about cutting losses quickly.
Mariana’s Reaction to Her $1 Million Trading Milestone
Mariana tells me that her $1 million trading milestone never would have happened without the support of her family.
From the start, her family has been extremely supportive of her trading journey. When she struggles, they encourage her to keep going.
I love that!
Not every parent is thrilled about their kid day trading … When I started trading with my bar mitzvah money, my parents thought I’d lose it.
Mariana’s family is as thrilled about her $1 million trading milestone as I am … That’s saying a lot!
Source: Millionaire Media, LLC
Mariana says she’s not only excited about her $1 million trading milestone, but also about what it means for the other women.
Mariana’s not getting complacent. She says, “My biggest objective right now is making sure I keep what I made.”
She’s also focusing on learning — from her mistakes and from other students’ mistakes. It’s all so that she can avoid getting stuck in bad trades with sketchy OTCs!
She’s also attuned to changes in the market.
That’s the right attitude … Every month is a chance to start fresh!
The Future of Trading…
I’m honored and humbled to have had more than 50 students cross the million-dollar profit mark.
But I’ve gotta say … Mariana’s $1 million trading milestone is special. She’s my first seven-figure female student … That’s a milestone for me, too!
I want to celebrate Mariana. And I also want her story to inspire all the other women day traders out there.
The markets don’t care about your gender. Trading is all about your discipline, mindset, and work ethic.
Mariana proves that women can find their stride as traders … Now that the floodgates are open, I can’t wait to see how female traders will continue to make waves in the market.
Are you inspired by Mariana’s story? Let us know at [email protected].
And please share this post with any aspiring female traders you know … We need more female traders!
Cheers,
Tim SykesEditor, Tim Sykes Daily
