Distractions

Household stuff, got to my desk late today. Didn't do thorough prep. 

WYNN seemed to be making a move. It paid then failed. That's why I take partials!

fizzle

I had 2 amazing opening trades. Long SPY, short AMZN as the market ripped up and dropped out in the opening 15-30 min. Then QQQ didn't break that range the rest of the day. SPY broke above, but barely, and gave it back. 

By 10:04 I had all green day, solid gains. Guess what happened next? Instead of shutting down my platform, I kept watching the market while journaling and saw a "great" setup....and gave it all back. All of it? Hello?! 

I should never have been in, so I went full size and then scaled around it? At least go smaller if I can't resist! A total waste of my time and money.

Anyway, summary journaling since I'm disgusted with myself but need to record it.

grind down

 Today (as of 1:50) is a big down day, but it has felt like a grind. There was a huge flush in the opening, then a 90+ min grind sideways before the next flush. I had maybe more than average tickers, but I had a lot of exits as I tried to lock some profits but still ride through chop in the index trades. One 0dte trade in the chop was a strong reminder that I don't want to run out of time, so I went back to 1dte. 

Again today I'm at my desk a lot longer than I like to be. I had an opening loss that I felt compelled to reverse. If I could just make that money without the losers... !

The literal worst thing about a trading day like today is the annotating and journaling. I should keep this in mind when I'm tempted to take too many trades or stay at my desk too long. 🤣

Market continues to grind down. I'm fried (esp after journaling), so there's no way I'm going back in!

SI

Setup- Gap below st level

Entry- Turning back down after pop

Management - It blew through my desired initial stop before I could enter it, so I took ndh stop, which gave a bigger than desired stop. Spreads were big here, so I had a small position. Why not just pass? After the fact, pass seems like a good idea.

RCL

Setup - Gap below st level

Entry - puts below opening micro level.

Management - Initial stop ndh. Thankfully I got a pltgt before it bounced. Rode the bounce but as I tightened my last stop, it grabbed me out before another leg down. Still, when I pass on those, I'm otherwise likely to eat it. I got MY money.

GOOGL

Setup - nms, callout on tradertvlive and I liked the action

Entry - short ndl

Management. Initial stop above the bear fin preceding my entry. Then I tightened my stop irrationally tight and stopped out just in time to miss the dummmmp!

SPY

Trade #1 calls Setup - After a big dump to the 20dma, it looked like it was stabilizing. If SPY was going to be strong today, that would be a perfect place for a reversal. Ah! But I'm not good at trading reversals (I say to myself)... so what (I say to myself), and regret it as I very often do. 

Entry - I waited for a slight higher low, then bought calls. Initial stop was ndl, then I saw other things weakening and decided I don't want to give it that much room. Prefer to flip it...

Trade #2 puts Setup - Continuation down

Entry - after I exited calls, I guess all the other longs jumped ship too, so there was a surge down. Waited for the bounce, then shorted. 

Management - Initial stop above the previous minute high (recipe for overtrading but here it worked). Got my target. Rode a too-big bounce, then decided I didn't want to sit in midday chop and lose time -- 0dte always seems like a good idea when I enter, but it's not a good idea -- so I tightened stops on partials to get out.

IWM

After exiting SPY puts I was still greedy. Reevaluate indexes for weakness and I assessed IWM had the most potential for further downside (see below)

Entry - break below level

Management - Initial stop above the fin. Got some pltgts, had to shave some off near b/e, but really wanted to ride it for the daily breakdown. Agonizing wait! Then traded around IWM price levels for targets and stop areas.

preempting and oversizing

Market opened inside with a bearish bias. Big economic announcement expected at 10am. Frequent arrogant mistake: I thought I could get a quick trade off before the announcement. Correct mentality would have been... no moves are going to really happen before the announcement, I should wait.

^LESSON

Going back to an older format to try to focus on skills. Last trade was definitely trade of day on UAL.

TSLA

Setup - gap down against green bar. 

Entry - breakdown of opening range, breaking vwap

Management - stop above igniting range.

Comments - at first not sorry to be out. Later the short did play out. Of course I should stop, but perhaps I should have found another chance to re-enter. In reality, it didn't do what it was "supposed" to, so I stopped watching it.

QQQ 0dte

Setup - nms.

Entry - break above opening range

Management - initial stop 290.59, below igniting range. When it stalled at the first top (a premkt level) and other watchlist fading, I yanked a smidge. In retrospect not enough. Rode one bounce down to vwap, but then raised my stop. How did I lose so much while exiting ~around my entry? I bought on a surge, so option price was exaggerated. I lost some time and the option was shrinking before the ISM number. 

UAL

Setup - gap (inside) then trade above short term consolidation

Entry - looking to break the box. 

Management - Initial stop below day low. 

This is the one I should have waited (obv! in retrospect) until after the announcement. When it held and then showed real strength after the ism dump, I found a chance to add. Now I'm oversize. Hoped for a really big move, so I took only half the original position at pltgt, leaving 3/4 my position which I shaved of in tiny bits until I gave up. It got to an equal high to the Nov 15 high, it had climbed a steep trendline and I dumped for the tl break.

After my close, it went up much more, but I don't think I would have gotten very much more out of the option. There was approx 10% spread in the option, so I traded a bit scared. No regrets for a really nice trade. I got my piece. Peace!