The Year in One Sentence… “2025 was the year markets rewarded adaptability — and punished anyone who assumed the old playbook still worked.” If you were flexible, selective, and patient → you probably did well. If you chased narratives without respecting price → the market reminded you who’s in charge. ✅ 2025 Market Recap (The Big Picture) Stocks - Large-cap tech and AI-linked names dominated headlines again — but this year came with more pullbacks, more skepticism, and more “prove it” moments. - Indexes finished strong overall, but returns were uneven. A few names did the heavy lifting. Many stocks went nowhere. 💡 Key lesson: Indexes going up ≠ most people making money. Crypto - Bitcoin spent much of the year consolidating, frustrating both bulls and bears. - Institutional interest quietly increased, even while price action stayed boring. 💡Key lesson: Boring accumulation phases are where future volatility is born. ✅ What Actually Mattered in 2025 (Not the Noise) 🤖 AI Grew Up 2025 was the year AI stopped being a buzzword and started being a business conversation. Markets moved from “AI will change everything” to: ➡️ Who’s profitable? Who’s spending too much? Who actually wins? Why this matters: The easy money phase is over. The selective money phase has begun. 🏦 The Fed Lost Its Scare Power Rates still mattered — but they didn’t dominate every single week like prior years. Markets learned to live with uncertainty instead of waiting for perfect clarity. Why this matters: The market doesn’t need certainty to move. It needs direction. 💰 Liquidity Was the Real Driver When liquidity expanded → risk assets breathed. When liquidity tightened → volatility snapped back fast. Why this matters: Narratives follow liquidity. Always. ✅ The Biggest Mistakes Traders Made in 2025 ❌ Overtrading chop So many accounts died not from big losses — but from death by boredom. ❌ Confusing conviction with stubbornness Holding losers “because the thesis is right” was expensive.

Have a special session for anyone interested in learning more about AI and automated day trading! Will be doing it at 12pm EST this Friday in place of the normal Fast Track session. I’ll be breaking down this weeks trading days through automation, including how the people in the screenshots below are using it. One of the things I love most about new technology like this, is most of these people (admittedly) would probably not have had a winning day today without it. They would have either been too busy, or made emotional or technical errors to mess it up. ✅ If you want to attend the session just comment “ALGO” below or reply to the email I send 👇

I have been tinkering with paper trading trying to understand the ins and outs of it. I was wondering if I placed a market order for a short position and the stop loss was taken before the sell position was reached why does it cancel the order out? You technically shouldn’t have received a P&L hit since the trade never reached your sell point correct?

I’m trying to start paper trading to get some practice in and when I went to set up an order my leverage is showing to be 20:1? I’m not exactly sure how to setup my system to show my exact risk size anyone have a direction I can look in?

My first question: do you look at electronic trading hours or regular trading hours only when charting?