Photo via cybertradinguniversity.com
Fausto Pugliese, founder of Cyber Trading University, told The Disciplined Investor that day trading got easier this year after regulators repealed the rule that used to require a $25,000 minimum account.
Most new traders think success comes from a bigger account or a smarter system. Fausto said it comes down to two rules he has taught for decades: never hold a position overnight, and never average down.
"Whatever goes up comes down twice as fast. So if it's going up very fast, it's going to come down even twice as fast."
Fausto taught host Andrew Horowitz how to trade decades before either of them had a podcast, and he says the core skill — reading order flow and institutional buying and selling — hasn't changed since.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 58 minutes of audio, 5 minutes of reading.
Here are the 4 lessons that matter.
The Disciplined Investor · Oct 25, 2026 · 58m · 53m saved
With Fausto Pugliese, Founder at Cyber Trading University
Key Takeaways
The pattern day-trading rule was repealed about three months ago, removing the old $25,000 minimum account requirement
Two cardinal rules: never hold overnight, never average down — Fausto calls averaging down "the biggest sucker bet"
Screen candidates with the "three T's": tradable, trend, trap — about half of retail failure comes from misreading liquidity, not direction
He avoids any stock without real NASDAQ market-maker and ECN activity
Size positions to a daily dollar goal, not a percentage return — $500 a day over 200 trading days reaches $100,000 a year; a 20% return on $50,000 is "only" $10,000
A hard daily stop: lose what you planned to make, then stop for the day — no doubling down to get back to even
VIX ETFs erode from "roll decay," not just a falling index — most hold futures rather than the VIX itself, which is why their long-term charts "resemble a ski slope"
1. VIX shows calm, not fear
Host Andrew Horowitz opened with the VIX's recent dip back toward 15-16, after touching 20 the prior Friday, and warned it misleads people into thinking markets are calm.
The VIX measures the next 30 days of expected volatility, not current conditions
"The VIX today isn't broken because it isn't moving. It's simply telling us that the options market currently expects the next month to be relatively calm and orderly." — Andrew Horowitz
Horowitz said investors have grown conditioned to a steady stream of worries — sticky inflation, elevated rates, geopolitical tension in France and Milan, concerns around CoreWeave and bank and tech earnings — without those worries translating into aggressive options buying.
Buying a VIX ETF as a bet on a low reading ignores "roll decay"
"If you look at the long-term charts of the popular VIX ETFs, they often resemble a ski slope. Top left, bottom right." — Andrew Horowitz
Most of these products hold VIX futures rather than the index itself. Constantly rolling expiring contracts into further-dated ones erodes their value over time, which is why the charts only go one direction.
