FAST OPTIONS TRADING. Fast in/out. Apply trading rules like CLOCKWORK. Have a day. Sleep at night. This is my personal trading journal*.
No freakout friday! I traded small to keep my head straight.
only one great setup = no aggressive trades. Gains are pretty lucky.
success builds psychological capital
awareness that my setups have expired. 9:48 done
+14% on the miniscule capital I traded.
Gotta go! Shabbat shalom.
The first 1 hour bar on the majors today, straight down. Except for QQQ defying gravity.
No great setups today, but I didn't let that stop me (ugh!). +4% day
AMC. Chased like a fool. Market hadn't shown its colors yet. Failed off daily 20sma (I notice this a lot!). See passed trade(gray) commentary below.
BNTX. Not what I hoped for, and not how I should have played it.
FUTU. Under the heading of, you can't go broke taking profits (though, I could argue...). FUTU looked like it would just drop forever. When it stalled around 140, round number, June support area, I tightened the leash a lot. Smart (/lucky) bc it did one more tiny drop and then ran $4 in 3 minutes. Gorgeous trade and I didn't overstay.
Valuable lesson in examining the trades I did NOT take. After I was "done" for the day, AMC short looked so juicy. But I don't want to tilt. I screen grabbed for reference. It would not have worked. Let's give some credit for passing when I should pass. This would have been a tilt triggering trade, so all the better I passed. Go ahead and pass! I had a great day. Take it and run (or... go spin Peloton in my case!)
Yesterday down 3%.
Today, caught a stellar runaway long on TSLA right at the open, then gave it all back by trading like a jerk on NVDA for aggrivation.
Been doing too much trading like a jerk. Weekend study is in order. Sticking with my reduced account size. Maybe even paper trade for a week.
I posted on reddit r/daytrading about up/down no-followthrough days. User u/Kaku_Tyson pointed me to read up on Wyckoff. Thank you.
At first glance it's basic stuff - accumulation, markup, distribution, markdown. https://school.stockcharts.com/doku.php?id=market_analysis:the_wyckoff_method
There are some nuances there that I'm going to focus on a little more. Maybe it does/n't help with this issue, but it's interesting and relevant continuing ed anyway.
BOOM!! 14% gain on my reduced account size. Done at 9:45am
Huge temptation to jump back in on something else. But I would need to bring in more cash from the reserve account and I'm not going to get in that mess. That is a TILT TRIGGER and I'm not interested in tilting today!
I got my piece. Peace!
I want zigs, not zags. After the 1 min play off my setup expires, I'm done! Pack it up. Go have a great day.
MU gap up after huge strong run with a lot of air pockets (desperation buying?). Bumping into 100ma and price resistance. Looking for short, w small size. First move didn't quite make it. Willing to let it spike above day high, but then I didn't want to give away the next green flash so shaved off smaller partials and kept my $.
BYND been watching this for breakout. Perfect example of why you need stops. Take my money!
BBBY gap up against red bar, looking for mini fin break. Grabbed! into the trade, then took p&l target. Second half off on stall. Of note: Yes, I missed a huuuuge trade. But I followed my rules and got my piece. Just as easily, it could have dropped like BYND. Never regret taking my piece. Peace.
When people invoke "the trader life" it usually seems to refer to jetsetting and "lambos". In my case, the trader life means I can take days off. I hope to take Fridays off going forward. It will calm my life. I took off yesterday to take my kid to the dentist.
The "mommy life" doesn't seem like luxury, but work life balance is a treasure. That motivates me. I am my own boss. I set my own schedule. It's even better than owning a business. I don't manage staff (just the kids 😉). I don't hold inventory. I don't rent office space.
Today I made "only" 3% on my small account. Done at 10:04.
Bit of a frustrating day. I thought I had decent picks, but doing chart annotations, I don't love them so much (are they actually decent?). Well, they're the best the market gave today. Except MS, I tried giving too much room and gave back small gains. Stopping for zero is inside +/-1%, since I truncate not round my numbers.
MS volume gap. Grabbed what I could on tight stop (the right stop!!)
OTLY volume gap up. 1 min data doesn't show well, but it surged and reversed with no target. stop for flat.
PLBY didn't fill my pl tgt. ran back down. Did not reenter.
STEM was pick of the day, and I waited. I got the surge, but didn't quite make my pl tgt. Stop for b/e.
As these frustrating trades were happening, I passed on PATH, which only caught my eye bc it was on my watch from yesterday. Decided not to jump, but set paper trading parameters. Coulda shoulda. Is this actually nms? It's probably as close to my setup as the other junk I traded today. Did I have a long bias? The market it so stretched. Study market tonight.
Days when up is down and down is up are my most frustrating days. For example, market is pushing new highs, but NONE of my picks played out.
Beautiful gap up plays, esp SPWR, didn't hold. Breakdown gap JKS traded strong up.
WHYYY!??? Profit taking, is the only explanation that comes to mind. How can I tell?
Down day, it goes without saying. Carrying smidges of the longs into the close because I want to be involved to keep my eyes on it.
One idea, I heard a trader say, "The gap up [on the market] ate up all the momentum." Interesting theory. So all there's left to do is for people to take profits?
In other words, people who pre-positioned for this move are closing, but there is no one new to keep it going. And/or shakeout, novice gap, ...
Clockwork trading principles:
- Small size
- Tight stop is the right stop
- Pay myself first
I am still trading a reduced size account, on which I am up 9% today. Trying to monitor feelings of "my trades are not working today" or "my setups are expiring". Today I'm done at 10:18.
No real good setups on my screeners this morning. This tells me not to trust trades = take profits and don't mess around, don't chase.
I show in the charts that I've been using a technique of scaling in. I am still building to approximately my previous size, but only when it's working. This helps reduce the sting of losers. Will continue to experiment with this.
First setup of the morning, TSLA triggered immediately and I missed it. It could have been gorgeous, but as I well know it could also burn! Definitely don't chase.
First trade CCIV didn't work well. Was right to stop, bc it went much farther against, before it came around. I didn't get emotionally invested in it, which allowed me to take it again when it set up again.
COIN was also one to wait for. Spread was massive, so I took ~10% to make sure I got out green.
After I declared my day done, AMC caught my eye. It may still run, but I held back and passed. That's not my setup, not my money. As I continue to watch it, it would have been psychologically tough, and then a loser. Phew!
LESSON: That's the kind of thing that might make me tilt. I had a solid up day. Called it quits. But if I would have indulged the impulse to trade AMC, and lost, then I would feel like I need to "get it back", and then I'd probably make the cascade of bad decisions that eats me alive.
Seems like approximately 3-5 trades before ~10am is my sweet spot?
In addition to my solid up day, I am also acknowledging the wisdom of the trades I didn't take.
Another hit and run day! Building back psychological capital.
Trading hygiene: bc camp carpool, I've been rolling up pretty much at 9:30. Prone to sloppy trading when I don't do good prep. Suffered some of that today. ROKU, def nms and I know "roku eats its young" (trades with lots of false signals/setups). But I stabbed into it anyway. At least, small size doesn't hurt as much.
Today, I traded with a small proportion of my account (+11% is on the small allocation). After first trade I was up about 5%. Next 2 trades losers almost back to scratch. Another shot at COIN made the money. There's probably more downside there, but ... tight stop is the right stop. I made my piece, and PEACE!!
Tilt trigger avoidance. After the 2 losers gave back my day, there was a huge temptation to bring new money into the account. NO!! I have to build back my self discipline. In a rational time, I allocated myself that certain amount. And if I'm not doing well with that amount, there is NO good reason to bring in new money to keep chasing a bad trading day, whether it is my own bad trading or just a day that is not conducive to my style.
I've been trying to remind myself to squeeze my stops in close. Zigs, no zags. Get my piece, and peace.
Ba BAM!! This is me rebuilding my psychological capital.
After some rough recent trading, my goals of the day today:
- ONLY my best setup = volume gap above/below base
- Book fast profits and walk away!
Gorgeous 2 trades (plus one mechanical mistake, which I handled well), for +12% on greatly reduced account size, and I didn't even use all my capital at that!
I was picky, I waited. I hit and run. Finished at 9:58, and done! PEACE!!
Hashgacha pratit. Today (after hitting max weekly loss yesterday) coincidentally, YouTube showed me this video from one of my favorite traders, Mark Melnik, about trading on tilt.
So I looked for a few more.
Gamer context https://youtu.be/kAI9LZHMoZA
Poker context https://youtu.be/B_ifQZ0auZY
"Tilt" is a topic for me to look into more.
Trader life: Took my daughter to the doctor this morning and missed the open. A good day for it, because of my ponderings on trading not my setup.
When I did finally get to my desk, I traded much more carefully, deliberately, successfully. Though I'd say the market wasn't necessarily easier than it's been any other day. I just traded like less of a jerk. And smaller, on fed day.
In other news, I am trying to get my commissions reduced by Schwab. There is a seemingly secretive application process. Hope for the best.
I'm not trading my best setups. Strong wake up call last night when I went to this blog to show some example trades. Very few recently are the setup I claim to specialize in. Eye opener! I'm trading nms. Constantly.
Trading strictly my best setup is something I used to hound on. My system works on my setup. I shouldn't expect my rules to work on a setup they're not designed for. So What! if my setup isn't showing very often lately. It doesn't mean I can trade any old anything. Maybe it means I have to develop other setups/skills. But I can't go rogue!
I've already been aware that I need non-opening plays. Maybe "TTG triangle" is one I should develop for later in the morning. How to scan?
No more sloppy trading!
Thankful to Ethan, Angel, Rob and the DC Traders meetup people, including a terrific presenter Casian(sp?). Wow!! I've missed talking shop with other traders!
Today was first day trading from my new standing/treadmill desk. So far, I'm not in love. It's not comfortable (that's not the point), but I don't think I traded poorly because of that.
Frustrating trading day. EH didn't stay up. I gave it too much room and exited net flat.
AMC I did my fatal mistake again. I picked it for a long (momo breakout). When the long failed hard, I tried puts (overbought reversal). Don't reverse on my thesis, just wait for another setup. And in doing so, missed the moneyyyyyy trade long.
Was a down day yesterday. Wrong side of CRSR and hung in there too long. Nice gains on MARA and NVAX, but net red.
Experimenting with Friday strategy, which can boom or bust. I routinely play with fire, but I need to moderate the types of explosions that can happen on Fridays. Risk control is #1. Trading as if it will only go in my favor is a recipe for disaster, even if, when it does go for me it's incredibly lucrative.
Today I first tried next week expiration, which in this case is monthly options. Surprisingly there was no volume on the trades I was watching and what I took didn't ignite. So I adjusted course. Smaller positions with today's expiration. Scaling in so I don't eat a big loss.
Going small isn't new to me, but scaling IN is not my usual. This might be something interesting to experiment with on other days as well, so I can build some really big positions when it's working.
Closing the week +6%.
Trade of the day was RBLX. I had it both ways. One of my fatal flaws to work on is when something I'm watching for a long starts to fail, I take it short. NO! Just wait for the long to set up again.
Had a sizable down day, and took a loser home. Both problems relate to a spready option that I made cardinal sins on: in too big, on something too spready. Gonna take a pretty big reversal on this guy to recover.
Meanwhile. CLOCKWORK.
As tempting as it is to try to pile in and recover quickly, remember!... dig out with a spoon. Get back on track. Don't be driven by emotion/greed.
Clockwork works. Stick with clockwork. Day in and day out. I will get my piece, and be at peace. Why do I keep messing around, thinking I'm "too smart"? That's how I eat it.
This morning the market is pushing near highs. Most of the gaps up are stocks curling off interim lows, and some meme stocks. It's not the really strong stocks on my gaps up. And the opposite, gaps down are generally strong ones and the crypto/adjacent.
The plan will be to sit tight. Enter small. Tight stop is the right stop. Pay myself first.
Chopped around this week for net -1.5% w.o.w. This is small numbers for me, but still disappointing. Not even for a negative week, but for the missed opportunity of progress.
Market feels difficult again... Also I might be trading like a jerk sometimes. Definitely there was a day where I thought... if the moves aren't coming, I'll take bigger size and smaller p/l targets. And, of course I ate it that day.
Current trading mental challenge is accepting these days that trades don't develop and just sitting out. Ugh!
Phew. Yesterday's post. Wednesday was a market inside day. I got hacked for a small loss, as expected. Caught AMC, but didn't maximize the run (100%+ price run).
K+A wedding was amazing. And now we're done with planning, celebrating, and I'm back to work. I am looking forward to giving my trading my primary focus again. I have a lot to accomplish this year!!
Today's trading was rough. There were setups, and I scraped out a little bit, but it wasn't one of those fabulous days. Still, 1.5% is no shabby day. Pile a few of those up and there's nothing to complain about.
May stats. I had an exceedingly good first 2 weeks of May, and gave about half of it back the second 2 weeks of May. Net gain, but really disappointing finish.
I have been very caught up in goals, expectations and pacing toward higher and higher p&l.
That is arrogance. I should not be pressing so hard for numbers. I should be taking the best trades, the best way, and not getting emotional over "high score" all the time.
Stay cool. Take my trades. Get my money. Peace.
Market pullback day today. Not a lot of compelling setups. My best pick, and my best gainer was UAL out of the open. After that, I should have walked away, but instead I hacked it down and up on crappy picks, to land up 2% on day. That is a "disappointing green day" for me (greed!!).
-->Rather than being disappointed that I didn't make "enough", I should be disappointed that I didn't trade well. However, I did learn a good lesson:
LESSON: That feeling that trades aren't giving 20%... that I need to take off pltgt at 10% first. That is the feeling of chasing. If I buy too high, I need to sell too soon to make sure to lock it. If I have a better entry, less chasing, the same exit is better profit. This seems obvious, but the lesson is the smack in the face that I've been chasing too much and trying to redeem it with smaller p/l targets...and moreso, losses.
LESSON #2 (repeatedly learned 🔨): Stop hacking at crappy picks.
UAL gap above some sort of consolidation. I waited for pb and got the move. Good one. The rest were crap. QS was a good setup yesterday. Lost on it yesterday too bc spread and crappy action.
Up is down and down is up. I think that means profit taking, and not enough momentum for strong followthroughs.
Lost a lot fast this morning.
Currently, the trade that could redeem me is still open, QS puts. I've grown 8 gray hairs just waiting out this sideways movement. Bracket orders set. To be continued...
QS also ate me up, to conclude a big down day.
Too aggressive on a up is down and down is up kind of day. Got chopped.
Tomorrow, half account and half size positions.
