I’ve been trading for over 4 years now.

It cost me over $30,000 in gains and losses, countless sleepless nights, and more screen time than I care to admit. I tried it all from day trading, trend following, crypto, stocks, swing trading, and loads of different indicators. I’ve read the books, watched the YouTubers, and made all the mistakes.

Most of it? Pure noise.

In this email, I want to give you the barebones blueprint I wish I had when I started. If I had to start from absolute zero with no experience and no guidance, this is exactly what I’d do to become a consistently profitable trader again.

No fluff. No over complication. Just a simple, realistic path.

Step 1: Identify What Timeframe & Goals You Have

This is the step most people skip, and it’s why they stay confused for years.

Before you even look at a chart, ask yourself:

• How often do I want to trade? Daily, weekly, monthly?

• How much time can I dedicate to watching the market?

• Am I trying to build wealth slowly or create cash flow actively?

This decision determines everything else.

If you're trading with a full-time job and limited time, then swing trading (holding positions for days or weeks) or position trading (holding for months) is your sweet spot. That means you'll mostly look at daily and weekly charts, not 5-minute candles.

If you're someone who wants the excitement of the market every day and can commit to screen time, then shorter-term trading might work, but it comes with significantly more stress, faster decision making, and often, worse performance for beginners. I don’t recommend day trading at all on smaller than daily timeframes. Your best best is going to be weekly or monthly market action using the daily and weekly charts.

The timeframe you choose is the foundation. Without it, you’re mixing strategies, getting conflicting signals, and ultimately burning out.

I like to frame this idea with the end goal in mind. If you were a trader, and you made enough money to live off of trading, would you want to spend all day in front of the charts? I personally wouldn’t. I am trading to provide myself with freedom and opportunity.

My ideal scenario is to not make trading a 9-5 day job. Because of that, I advocate for weekly market action and not day trading.

Step 2: Follow the Path of Successful Traders

Once you know your timeframe, it’s time to pick your teachers. Not the influencers. Not the Reddit bros. The actual GOATs of trading.

Here are the three I’d recommend studying deeply:

Mark Minervini – Teaches momentum trading with strict rules. Focuses on low-risk, high-reward setups. His Volatility Contraction Pattern (VCP) is gold from his book Trade Like a Stock Market Wizard:

• Trade strong stocks in strong sectors, not underperforming stocks in bad sectors

• Look for Volatility Contraction Patterns (VCP) – price tightens into a narrow range which is basically a cup and handle pattern

• Buy on breakout above resistance (pivot point) with volume

• Cut losers quickly (3–5% stop loss, 10% at the maximum)

• Only trade stocks above their 50-day and 200-day moving averages, price can never be below these averages when you buy

• Avoid choppy or sideways markets that waste your time

• Use risk-to-reward > 2:1 on all trades

William O’Neil – Author of How to Make Money in Stocks. Created the famous CANSLIM system. A blend of fundamentals and technicals that allow you to see all aspects of a stock or crypto’s growth:

• C – Current earnings per share: must be growing sharply (25%+ YOY)

• A – Annual earnings growth: strong annual growth for at least 3 years

• N – New product, service, or management (catalyst)

• S – Supply and demand: look for lower float, high volume breakouts

• L – Leader or laggard: only trade market-leading stocks

• I – Institutional sponsorship: big funds should be buying the stock

• M – Market direction: only go long in confirmed uptrends

Stan Weinstein – Master of stage analysis. Helps you understand where an asset is in its broader life cycle: accumulation, breakout, distribution, or decline.

• Only buy in Stage 2 (uptrend breakout) after price breaks above long-term resistance

• Use the 30-week moving average as your guide:

  • Flat = Stage 1 (accumulation)

  • Rising = Stage 2 (buy zone)

  • Flattening/declining = Stage 3 or 4 (exit/avoid)

• Confirm breakout with above-average volume

• Avoid stocks in Stage 3 (distribution) or Stage 4 (decline)

• The best trades happen after a Stage 1 base, right as the Stage 2 breakout begins

These guys aren’t chasing 100x coins or meme stocks. They built systems with repeatable rules and focused discipline. I’d study their books, their interviews, and then reverse engineer their strategies on past charts to understand what they saw.

You don’t need 20 gurus. You need one or two core strategies that match your personality and timeframe. These guys all come from the same mindsets and built off of one another, so when you concatenate their styles together you get a very beautiful view of the total market.

If you want a free option to try these ideas out before committing to the books, watch these few videos:

Step 3: Implement The Rules & Gain Experience

Here’s the hardest truth no one wants to hear:

You are your biggest enemy in trading.

It’s not the market. It’s not the algos. It’s you. Your fear, your impatience, your greed, your second guessing.

If I had to start over, I would pick one of the above strategies, print out the rules, and follow them blindly for 6 months with no exceptions. No “gut feelings.” No moving stop losses. No doubling down on losing trades. Just follow the rules.

And trust me, these rules are going to feel uncomfortable.

At first, you won't believe in the system. You’ll want to tweak it. You’ll think “this time is different.” But over time, you'll start to feel something shift. Winning trades will imprint a kind of intuition in your brain. Patterns will feel familiar. You'll develop your own rhythm.

This kind of intuition doesn’t come from books or courses, it only comes from reps. And if you stick to a real system long enough, your instincts will eventually start working for you instead of against you.

Nobody wants to lose, and you might lose some as you learn, but wouldn’t you rather lose a couple hundred learning than lose thousands because you never took the time to truly understand the market?

This is how you can earn a master’s degree in investment analysis for a fraction of the cost and the exact steps I’d follow if I was coaching someone to learn again.

Most traders quit before they ever find clarity. They chase strategies instead of building skill. They look for magic indicators instead of mastering themselves.

But if I had to start again today, here’s what I’d do:

1. Pick my timeframe and define my goals

2. Study the greats and pick one system

3. Follow the rules until I develop confidence and edge

This process works. It’s not sexy. It’s not fast. But it’s real and it’s the exact path I used to become profitable again after years of struggle.

If you're just starting out or you're still stuck in the noise, I hope this gave you the clarity you need to move forward. If you think you’d be interested in joining a small group who talks about my investment strategy and how I am using this in the market, answer the poll below. I might make one in the future if there’s enough interest. Nothing too crazy. We’d probably just start with a weekly zoom call to learn a bit, talk about trade setups, and answer any questions.

Thanks,

Dawson