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Everyday Aussies think brokers exist to help them make money, but professionals know the truth: brokers exist to help themselves make money. That’s why investors who consistently win don’t follow the rules written in glossy brochures, they follow the rules the industry hopes never leave the trading floor.
If you want 2026 to be your most profitable year yet, here are three insider tips most retail investors never hear about.
Most investors lose money not because they pick the wrong stock, but because they buy too many. And brokers love that. Every extra trade equates to extra fees and revenue for them.
Professionals take the opposite approach. They rely on a brutally simple No-Trade Checklist, covering key criteria like the stock’s trend, trading volume, sector momentum, and a pre-set exit level. These are just a few of the items you could include to keep your trades disciplined.
Even if one box fails, they walk away. Cutting the “garbage trades” doubles performance, not because you’re smarter, but because you’re disciplined.
Ever placed a buy order and watched the price jump the moment you enter, filling you at a higher level than expected? Or sold, only to realise you were filled far lower than you planned? That’s the danger of market orders: they guarantee you’ll get in, but they don’t guarantee the price you’ll get.
Pros use limit orders. By specifying the exact price they’re willing to pay or sell at, they get the price they want, not the price they’re given. It might take longer to get filled, but it keeps trades clean and prevents sneaky slippage from eating profits.
Here’s the one the industry really doesn’t want you to know: brokers make money when you trade, not when you win. A “Buy” recommendation often lines up with their relationships or fee incentives, not the stock’s true potential.
Professionals barely glance at broker research. They read the chart and follow price, volume, and the trend. Simple, honest and unbiased.
These aren’t theories or clichés. They’re real-world hacks used quietly behind the scenes because they work. The checklists, the discipline, and the chart-reading skills; these are the rules the crowd doesn’t know exist. Follow them, and 2026 could be your best year yet.
What are the best and worst-performing sectors this week?
The best-performing sectors include Technology, up over 5 per cent, followed by Materials and Healthcare, both up over 4 per cent. The worst performing sectors include Energy, just in the red down 0.09 per cent, followed by Consumer Staples and Financials, both up over half of a per cent.
The best performing stocks in the ASX top 100 include Qube Holdings, up over 22 per cent, followed by Ramsay Health Care and Reece Limited, both up over 15 per cent. The worst-performing stocks include Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, down over 5 per cent, followed by QBE Insurance, down over 3 per cent and Suncorp Limited, down over 2.5 per cent.
What’s next for the Australian stock market?
This week, buyers delivered exactly the kind of response you want to see after a sharp correction. The All-Ordinaries Index surged more than 2.5 per cent, effectively wiping out last week’s losses in one strong move. As expected, the 8,600-level held firm as support, and the index has now pushed back above 8800, putting it in a constructive position as we head into the final stretch of the year.
What happens next, however, is pivotal. One powerful rebound doesn’t define a trend. If sellers re-emerge quickly and push prices lower, this may prove to be just a reflex bounce. But if buyers continue to step in and the index begins gravitating toward 9,000, the market will start to look far more convincingly bullish.
With 9,000 now shaping up as near-term resistance, December’s seasonal strength will need to show-up historically, as it often does.
The real highlight this week was the broad participation across major sectors. Information Technology, Materials, Industrials, and Healthcare all rallied over 4 per cent, signalling buyers were not picking favourites, they were confident across the board. Healthcare’s strength is particularly noteworthy, as it often lags when risk appetite is high. When defensive and growth sectors rise together, it usually reflects genuine underlying market breadth.
As the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all ships, and this week certainly felt that way. If the momentum continues, we may be witnessing the very early stages of the market’s next uptrend. For now, it’s simply refreshing to see the All-Ords printing green again and a few more weeks of that would be very welcome.
For now, good luck and good trading.
Dale Gillham is the Chief Analyst at Wealth Within and the international bestselling author of How to Beat the Managed Funds by 20%. He is also the author of the award-winning book Accelerate Your Wealth—It’s Your Money, Your Choice, which is available in all good bookstores and online at www.wealthwithin.com.au.
