Fast forward 18 months

Lots of changes in my trading! 

Futures trading at Apex was a tremendous learning experience for me. 

Lesson one, I don't like trading futures. Options are definitely my perfect fit for a number of reasons.

Lesson two, specializing in the NQ helped me learn its personality. 

Lesson three, prop trading has its definite pros and cons.

My new happy place? 0DTE options on QQQ. 

There is enough liquidity, and enough volatility in the zeros for me to make my bag. I don't have any of the stress of screeners or tracking multiple tickers. There are zeros every day.

Meanwhile Schwab discontinued Street Smart Edge. I have never loved Think or Swim, but I have found the few features I need, including on mobile. In fact I prefer trading on my phone now, which is another huge plus!

Onward and upward. Like clockwork  

Apex qualifying and lessons

I reached the qualifying threshold in 2 Apex accounts. Also busted in one while figuring it out (platform, orders, sizing, etc). I need about 4 more trading days until I go live. Will be extra cautious.

I hope it will be a great additional arena for me, but anyway it has taught me some interesting things about my primary trading.

One major lesson is using stochastics on 5 and 1 (and sometimes 15) to help me wait for pullbacks to play out and inform profit taking. 

Another lesson has been about the kind of "low tolerance" zigs-no-zags holds I want to be doing. I went smaller in my options account and got great results too. This is completely aligned with the stochastics factor.

A third lesson is about accepting my performance and walking away. Don't sit there and continue to hack at it. I know this lesson and that's why I have been trading in a cash account. I need to refocus on that as I add futures which is in a margin account and has 23 hour/day access. 

Apex funded trading

90% off sale at Apex Trader Funding so I grabbed a few accounts. Let's see how I make it through the evaluation/qualifier. This would be a nice side hustle to my usual trading...I think? I can always cancel.

holy moley!

Today was the follow through of July 27 "day to take notice" (opened higher and sold off on uptick volume). 

I was too aggressively short at the open and had some losses, ouch. Traded my rules, but maybe I should have some extra rules for such a bearish day. Though, that is only obvious in retrospect. 

*Thinking about it much later, I had 3 shorts and I couldn't intensely manage that many int the opening rush. Also that could have become a big disaster. Should stick to 1 or 2.

I had a +9% day on my account. I guess my regret was I was in a bit too big on NVDA and so I shook out too easily. Too early / too scared on U also...

lesson about small losses

File under: Lessons learned a thousand times, but never ceases to amaze me...

When I keep my losses small and keep my attitude confident the wins do come, and they far overcome the losses.

Interesting example. Yesterday I tried trading CRWD on the 162.25 break. Made a little, lost a little. Mostly got frustrated, took a smidge home. Today I tried again. Added a small starter, but it didn't do the job. Set it to stop below day low. 

I watched it happen, and I've seen it before. It stopped me out and then jerked back up. Like the drop was just to shake me out before the run I've been waiting for. 

Then it bounced so hard I couldn't get back in! I found a spot and took only medium size for reentry. Then it ran FULL BULL while the market is doing basically nothing today. That prevented me from adding.

I present this chart while I have the last part of my position still open.  

The lesson is: don't hold beyond hope and have big losers. Take those small losers! But also try again and hold the winners. It's simple as can be, but somehow it's a new lesson every time I learn it.

Other trades:
COIN in the very open. Strong drop, huge spread. Took p/l target with all. Left a lot on the table, but with spread, could also have lost big. No regrets.

PYPL tried for a bounce. Didn't come at my time (did come later).

RIVN a little something on breakdown of uptrend line within base (that I still like for a long).

And CRWD for the win of the day!

another huge day

I am up 182% this week. I'm super glad about it. I love how it's going. Tomorrow, I need to trade next week exp and size small. 

How am I up so nicely? 

First, I think there are some real movers out there right now. This is my kind of market and I need to capitalize. 

Second, I am trading like clockwork. I am taking off 20% pl targets, I am shaving off partials at every stall. I am squeezing stops and capturing gains. 

In addition, I've labeled the trades "nms", but actually I'm also starting to looking to catch movers before they totally run away. 

Look at the trades surging and then giving back. I had started wanting to get those RakeTrades multiples, but really my best trading is zigs no zags. 

+65% on account today!

What a stellar day for me. How do I bottle this feeling of "getting it right" and trade like this all the time?
I caught 4 blast offs. In BA, didn't even have a chance to add. 
Market was distinctly not launching in the same timeframe, though it did launch later as I was capturing charts... during the 

hold or not?

DKNG broke out ! I hoped for a bigger move, but also had to grab those gains!
MMM broke out! I chased it and ate it, where I could have done well. Still, have to stop and minimize losses. Its ok to re-enter (I didn't), but it's not ok to hold and hope.

hit and run

 No picks I loved too much this morning. Inside open.

RIVN was sort of impulse buy. I liked the way it opened, and even though it was inside I grabbed at it. Booked very small gain. Had fomo when it went again. And then not fomo when it flushed in an instant.

AMD I really liked for a breakdown. Market opened initially really strong and AMD held up. I waited for a move back below vwap and took a bit. I like the first close I took, even though it was below 20%. I need to just book it. Then we got a market flush on (I think) 9:45 PMI Flash number and AMD dumped for me. Squeezed the stop down. Love how I got out. Even if it would have continued down, I'm not sorry to have closed it there on the oversold.

Done before 10am. Love it!

midday Friday

 Overambitious. I should watch out for that after a big green day. In too big and as of midday I'm red. Setting orders and need to walk away for a bit. Barring a big up move, I close red today.

vacation

 We were away all last week on vacation. I took a few small trades, against my intention not to trade on vacation 🚩. Losers, which is what I deserved for my indiscipline. 

This week, Mon and Tues were +/- tiny days. Yesterday I caught a really juicy trade on LULU. I feel like the lesson there is to keep trading clockwork. There will be some small red days, some small green days, but when the market does my thing, I will have those big green days!

Today, I traded AMD for a nice winner. TSLA a loser, then a second try where I took a loser on the first half and a big winner on the second half (net loser overall). Have to manage trades. Have to take the small losses so I don't defeat the winners, which do come.

Steady clockwork

 Clockwork trading going along steadily this week. No wild swings emotionally or in the account. 

I like it like the old days, where I grab gains and get away from my desk. 

So while today I left some on the table, I had close to zero stress and was done before 10am. I'm here for that!

small green

 Was down small, and then the SPY trade got me up small. 

I didn't hold UPST long enough. I was in for only 1 contract, to make 20%. Could have had a lot more easily there.

I traded TSM ok. It bounced against me a little too much but I held ("trust" in my setup?) and was able to get out of half well and half flat.

TSLA I didn't wait for a good enough entry and/or didn't give my entry enough room. It did my thing without me. Entries matter.

MSFT nms I got in too early, rode up to ndh and thankfully got out green.

META nms negated it all (and then it did my thing without me)

I need to dig in to why I let myself trade nms. Especially, it should be plain and simple that inside bars will be chop shop.

SPY, one single call and an excellent run off my rare bottom pick, made the small red loss back and almost equal amount into green.

option sweeps "information"

Today is the second time in a few days that someone in "the other discord" (not my main pod) has tried to make a case that a stock will move based on some option sweep they saw. I don't understand the importance of an options sweep vs focusing on the normal price/volume information of the stock. The people who tout the options sweep can not sufficiently explain what might be actionable about it. I continue to ignore it.

Today's person was funny because, though he couldn't explain why I should care about an options sweep, he did go a long way to telling me that people pay for his mentorship and he doesn't need to give away information for free...and that someday I'll come crying (!) to him wanting him to mentor me.  L-O-fking-L!

Amusement of the day and a reminder if I ever needed yet another reason I hope to never have to work in an office and have coworkers ever again! Motivation!

This morning I started with a loss on DDOG. In retrospect I held it too long against hope, but on the other hand, I *had to* get out there or else tragedy. 

Simultaneously OXY wasn't doing much to help my situation. The spread there was wide and I didn't want to take a stop. I had a stop at 57.18 bc premarket level. Thankfully I was able to get 3/4 of the position off at b/e and lose the spread on the rest. It continued to my pl target and beyond not much later, but [STUDY] what should I do in that situation? I was in a bad situation and I had a chance to get out b/e. But if it was shaping up in my direction again, should I not hold it just in case? Where would my stop have been. I don't really regret taking off half at b/e, stopping another 25% and trying to ride the last 25% for more. It didn't work. I was focusing my attention elsewhere (AMZN) anyway.

ABNB - not much to say here. I got an alert to "go check" but I saw it moving so strongly I jumped on the 1min without looking carefully at the daily. Of course it dropped against me immediately after chasing a nms. Lucky to get 90% out ~b/e. Ate it on the last bit, and of course it ran back up immediately, but I didn't look back. Deserved that burn.

AMZN made my day. I anticipated a big move and went farther otm to get more contracts for same $. That worked great here and I was able to get partials off very well. The add was ill-advised. And most of all, esp on a Thursday, I should have just taken more off at the 100%+ and not tried to go for the next target as aggressively in an "eh" market environment. I went back almost to b/e on the remaining contracts before it perked up again into the close -- but I lost time. In retrospect, of course, I should have captured early gains and gotten my personal time back instead of sweating it all afternoon.

multiple strikes for same position

 Was up nicely on my account today at one point. Then got "cute" and tried nms on (guess...?) 0dte SPY. Gave half back. Worth it? Maybe, for the potential it had? Update: it did play out later for coulda shoulda.

Let's focus on GOOGL. It was gapping down below trendline, but still in the base, arguably. So when the market was holding on at the open and GOOGL did that big reversal I tried a long. I think it was a decent case, but that was not my intended trade. Took the loss, then did enter my intended trade for a winner. 

Here's today's experiment and thoughts. I took the 122 puts and the 121 puts. I took 10 of each, so the 121 position had less starting capital in it. In the "normal" profit range (see here, 20-40%), the gains were similar. If I put the same $ in each, I'd have similar $ gains. If I can take more contracts at a farther otm strike, I have more options for scaling/holding, and if it goes really far the % gain will amplify. 

That's great if I get a big move. What about last week in LEN. I thought it was going to be a big breakout. I got 118s to start with and 120s later. A little hard to compare, but over there the 118s went well into the money and the 120s barely. So the 118s paid well, and if I had only had the 120s it wouldn't have been a great trade.

My conclusion from those 2 trades is that it is a good idea to take 2 strikes in some shape or form. Should I combine with multiple expirations? I don't really want to be holding/swinging anything (at this point in my career) so should I do equal number or equal dollar allocation? And, I'm going to have to really be decisive about levels. Today I panicked and tried to take off partials of both the GOOGL calls, but I couldn't get the order to execute like I thought it should have. I think I had done the same thing for the LEN calls, and it did work. I'll go back and see what I overlooked in a panic that didn't execute. 

I have a learning curve for this, but it has some promise!

just flat

Start from the end... in retrospect on this day, it was only somewhat a clockwork day. I took those 20% targets. I took stops (vs yanking them, but need to work on placement/philo). I quit when I should without going on tilt... is that the consolation of the day? ... well, at least I didn't tilt?

I had a decent pick PDD. I don't mind the first trade I took. I don't mind I stopped where I did. I like that I reentered. But I took the second trade scared. I need to either hold for targets or take very tight stops. That last exit was wishy-washy. I shouldn't stop in the middle. I should take the extreme, or give it reasonable (if painful?) room. The halfway stop is just a waste.

AMZN was off plan, inside day, I chased (while inside!! cardinal sin). That's actually the one I should be regretting. 

Trading SPY 0dte is also not usually my best move. It's a lazy trade. I should be looking for relative weakness. That trade was 20% my usual size, but helped me recover.

Why would I spit at this day? I went into the first PDD trade too big(bottom row), and all the subsequent gains only almost recovered that. I'm down $9 on the day, I'm calling it flat. Seems tempting to try to jump back into something and go green, but I need to focus on trading my plan, which I have already strayed from. My pick/s are played out. I already had one lapse in reason. Calling it a day.

return to clockwork

I have strayed. I have looked left and right and seen other traders seemingly making more money. I ignored clockwork trading rules this week to try to make more. I had a red week.

Today I closed the overnight hold of LEN for a little more gains. Lost huge on MRVL. Won big on U. Net red day.

I think partly I've let myself get obsessed with https://www.instagram.com/raketrades/ who trades a similar style to me but somehow manages to get outrageous gains. I keep thinking I'm going to do that too... not all the time, just on the real great setups. (Maybe I need to go further otm to get the returns he gets.) MOST OF ALL, I need to stick to MY style. The style that suits me and makes me money. 

This week contrasted with last week (stellar gains), should make it very obvious that I should stay in my lane.

So next week, back to "clockwork trading". Why do I ever stray? That's how I've made the money that I have, why do I try anything else? This refers to trading like clockwork. Systematic picks. Systematic entries. Systematic trade management. This is my thing. I'm going to make my money my way, in my time. 

-small position size to reduce emotional decision making

-tight stop is the right stop

-pay myself first (take profits along the way)

-zigs no zags. I need to trade the one power surge of the move and then go enjoy the rest of my day.

I need to remind myself of this more. 

I won't get rich quickly, but I might get rich slowly.

will I never learn?

Psychologically toxic day for me today.

Main trade was LEN. Breakout to ath on earnings. I waited for the sellers to clear (should there have been sellers?) then bought, and added out of the consolidation. Should the open have been so cumbersome on new ath? after a daily pullback and consolidation (cup/handle type situation)? The volume was there. 

So whatever. I got in, took far less than half off for stellar gains, but not before enduring a pullback to my ~breakeven/vwap. Should that have happened? Why wasn't I asking myself, "is this what an incredibly strong breakout looks like?" [NO!] That should have told me to capture much more gains there when I did.

Then I f'ing sat in it all day long. Going pretty deep red, then it couldn't cross 120 in the afternoon... is that the behavior of an incredibly strong breakout? [NO!]

And then, for the... why? ... I took a tiny position home overnight. For tomorrow's expiration... Why? It's just AT the money and it it currently at the close tonight about 1% in the red (flat) so tomorrow barring a big move into the money, these go to zero. 

One of the most frustrating parts is that the market defied all laws of gravity. The market is sooo extended, but look at SPY nonstop uptrend all day. While this fker just grinded. 

Good luck tomorrow to save my week which is currently red.

not a day to press

 Today was not a day to press. Market is extended. Indexes didn't trend. I tried to press. Red day.

The second try in CRWD was punishment I deserved. When I stopped the first half, I briefly thought to flip short (failed breakout). But instead of short, or just passing, I did this asinine thing. Waste of money.

surprise great day

 This morning while prepping, I realized I needed to help my parents and wouldn't really be able to trade the open.

I did a literal hit and run on COIN, in 5 min made a decent gain on COIN and then tore myself away. 

By the time I got back home it was after 2:30. Picked through the rvol screener and tried NVDA (which worked later) and TSLA (which didn't give either direction particularly).

QQQ caught my eye as making new high and I was able to catch SPY making ndh and move above yesterday high for continuation. Took 1dte, esp since it was already 2:45. Raked it in!

Small quick trading day to close a stellar week

 Learned this morning and came in 9:40. Used the TradingView rvol screener in real time (5min) to see what was moving. Caught a few quick moves. Left a lot on the table, but also had close to zero stress. Quit with cash still cold. Shabbat shalom!

siiiiick!!

Beautiful 2 days trading on vacation! B"H! In addition to a really nice time away (despite smoke from fires in Canada).

I'm up 42% on the week. I'm way too hyped up to journal now. This will have to suffice...

hit and run!!

Vacation trading. Hit and run. I executed, raked it in, and I'm off to have a great day with A.

basic green day

Opening pick was AMAT, gap down on volume, breaking levels.

When AMAT failed to drop out, I went long AMD for relative strength, and it was a great trade. If anything I didn't hold it well enough, but at the same time as AMD was getting started, SPY and QQQ were below yesterday's low. In that condition I should not be aggressively long. I scaled down at every stall, including as it got to Thurs/Fri highs. I wonder if I was too tight with some stops, if I could have stayed in with more size a little longer. 

It was not a "full bull" day, so I don't regret locking profits.

What I do regret is the trade I took in MBLY. I was thinking of the pattern where I got so burned a few days ago where a stock gapped down below a strong uptrend, found support on nearby tangle of ma's and ran up. I saw MBLY hammer and start to surge, and I lept in. The option was too thin, too spready, and it was monthly(next week) expiration. NO good all around. And then it didn't fill me out, didn't follow through and I sweated it for an hour before finally getting ~breakeven on a market order (limit wouldn't fill). And the last bit for a gain. It was a waste of mental capital.