Remedies to failures

I respond better to cues about what TO do, vs what NOT to do.
So I have reframed today's failures into remedies.

Failure	Remedy
DONT TRADE FRIDAYS.	Take Fridays OFF
I arrived late. Trades starting at 1030 are by definition NMS	Only trade my setup. My setups are on the open. Only trade opens.
Don't trade today's expiration	Fridays are DAY OFF.
Positions too big	Trade reasonable size, to stay rational
Yanking stops	Stops are for safety
Swearing	Reduce size to reduce emotions
Hoping for luck to save me	Proper pivots, proper entries, proper stops
Forfeiting my day to the market	I like trading fast and having my day.
Money burning a hole in my pocket	Cash is safety
Not walking away after first small loser	After a loser, go SMALLER, not bigger.
Revenge trading	Trade only my setup, or walk away.

Raw emotions

Such a huge mess today.
Two unnecessary trades, both terrible. Occupied my whole entire day and really cost a lot psychologically. End of day was small loser but midday I had been down devastatingly much more.

I will log them properly over the weekend but I want to comment on my emotions while it's still fresh.

At the close yesterday I had made my weekly target almost to the dollar. I don't really want to trade on Fridays but usually I find it irresistible. First fatal mistake.
DONT TRADE FRIDAYS.
Just don't F-ing trade on Fridays.

I arrived late. Second fatal flaw. My trades are out of the open. Trades starting at 1030 are by definition
NMS.
All the more reason to skip Fridays.

Third fatal flaw: Trading today's expiration. That's really getting too cute. Fatal.

Add all the other fatal flaws, terrible habits and detrimental behaviors:
Positions too big
Yanking stops
Swearing
Hoping for luck to save me
Forfeiting my day to the market
Money burning a hole in my pocket
Not walking away after first small loser
Revenge trading

Thank Gd I got lucky at the end of the day. If I had a critical loss, I would have deserved it. But I got off cheap for my indescretions with a small loss.

FB -19%. A waste of $34

Daily setup: nms. Tradenet called it out as a potential, but I played it my own way.
Entry/play: After 1 min surge and flag, I tried to buy hammer pb.
Management: stop below hammer. Phew! so happy to have stopped out before the market duuuumped on 10am announcement.
Psychology: After excellent TSLA win, I thought about packing up. I should have. Even though I went small and waited for a "good" entry, this was just a waste. Thankfully not a big waste, but not my setup, not my timing. Just a simple case of money burning a hole in my pocket and getting too cute.

LEARN: when trading post-open, be aware of economic calendar!
Also learn: after a super good opening trade, go ahead and pack it up.

TSLA puts +54%

Daily setup: gap down below weird pattern
Entry/play: preempt 1 min breakdown. TOO EARLY. I know TSLA bucks around a lot, so I bought 3rd otm put to smooth the ride.
Management: Shorted via puts in second minute after a run up and back to day low. Initial mental stop day high was blown through, so I looked at premkt levels. It ran above the premkt high but not premkt trendline. Really I got lucky. But I also added on the way back down, stop above day high. Then it dropped out FAST. I took p/l target and kept trailing stop down all the way. Was looking at a level around 227, so I tightened when it slowed down.
Psychology: I know TSLA whips me around, so I bought farther otm put (tomorrow expiration) to slow it down for sanity. If it really surged, I would have had to stop somewhere. I was going to wait for the spike to settle (but we know, spikes can really hurt). I got lucky, and I got a chance to add. I left a LOT on the table (another 100%) with next leg down, but I did my thing. Got my piece. Peace.

Schwab announced zero commissions.

Starts next week. I will still have my negotiated per-contract rate, but no flat trade fee. Every little bit matters.
I hope they won't start charging platform fees to compensate.

https://pressroom.aboutschwab.com/press-release/corporate-and-financial-news/conjunction-chuck-schwabs-new-book-invested-schwab-remove

NFLX ...agggh! trade error! panic! +47% AND -30%

Daily setup: Gap down after bear fin
Entry/play, and management: TRADE ERROR:
After 1 min buying I meant to buy puts, but I accidentally bought calls. Then I PANICKED! Sell right away? Use a stop? I couldn't think! I didn't want to miss the short while I was managing the calls, so I ALSO meanwhile quickly bought puts, and started managing the long trade (which I assumed would be the loser).
First, I put a stop on the calls below day low, which I trailed up, managing like a usual long especially when it started surging, eventually squeezing it pretty tight and getting a surprising decent trade out of it.
The accidental calls were hedged by the puts, though the calls were accelerating. When the calls stopped, I started managing the puts (I couldn't really handle managing both and I still assumed the play here was ultimately short). First stop above day high. Then I closed on a trailed stop.
Psychology: Shock and panic! I don't know if I could have gotten much more out of this trade, given the level of panic. In fact, I wonder if I would have stopped the puts correctly if I had initially bought only puts as I intended.
Not including the initial error, I think I handled the situation ok.