Bajillion's Bangers or Mash?

[bajillion]

I’m doing a trade journal bc I think I’m important enough that everyone in Valhalla should know what I’m doing. Actually, the reason I’m doing this to force myself to analyze my trades with the wisdom of hindsight. (But also bc I’m important. My mom says so.)

My trading philosophy is that before I enter any position I ask myself the immortal words of Tom Haverford “Is it a banger?”. If so, then I buy it. If it isn’t, then I don’t buy it. The best strategies are the simplest to understand. Additionally I have a few new rules for myself.

1. Look sharp, ya dumbass! Don’t YOLO. Take smaller positions and either scale into them, or just stay grateful for the size you got. The 2 times I’ve blown my account up was because I jumped in with both feet like a moron and didn’t bother looking down. You can do everything perfectly and still lose bc there’s a million variables you don’t control.
2. Take your time and take profit. I can’t get rich overnight because I’m not that lucky or gifted. This is a slow grind and I need to lean into that. So take profit and don’t try for baggers with every trade.

I started an account with $200 because that is the proper amount to start an account with. (My wife says so). I’m using a cash account on Webull bc that’s the best type of account to use. (Conq says so.). I’m trading pretty hesitantly right now because I’ve only ever blown accounts up, and I’m trying to change that. So far it’s going pretty well. Here’s my results after 2 days of trading:

Day 1 Trades
BX 18Feb22 $139 call
Cost basis - 0.88, sold at 1.20
SENS 18Feb22 $4 call
Cost basis - 0.22, sold at 0.26
SPY 09Feb22 $452 put
Cost basis - 0.18, sold at 0.07

Day 1 Recap
I found a very simple strategy for playing BX. Buy at the end of the day when it has a green HA. This is a bullish trend that lasts a few days. If I had a larger account I would have held longer, but I told myself that no matter what, DON’T SCREW UP. So when I saw some decent profit I took it. It’s impossible to blow up your account if you take profit. (Lots of people say so.). With SENS I was trying to trade the trend during the day and once again, I took profit. Looking back I could have held SENS longer and captured more of the upward movement but I’m still feeling things out here. I had decided that I wasn’t going to hold these overnight for two reasons: I don’t want to wake up in the morning wondering if my profits have evaporated overnight and I’m in a cash account so if I have to cut them in the morning then I’ll have to sit out for the day waiting on cash to settle. In hindsight, this was absolutely the right call. The SPY trade was bad and good at the same time. It was bad bc it didn’t work. I bought at the channel resistance expecting it to fall but it didn’t. It was good bc I set a stop loss and cut my losses. Sure, it was only $9 and it felt like a hollow victory, but I think the lesson was more important. Sometimes you have to take losses, and you have to TAKE them. Don’t let the market decide how much you are going to lose, tell the market how much you will lose and then take it like a champ. I’ll take my $9 back, you SPY turdburger and you won’t get anymore from me!

Day 2 Trades
BX 18Feb22 $139 call
Cost basis - 1.22, sold at 2.44 (FIRST 100% BANGER!)
SENS 18Feb22 $4 call
Cost basis - 0.24, still holding
SENS 18Feb22 $3.5 call
Cost basis - 0.40, still holding

Day 2 Recap
My BX strategy paid off handsomely again. I held longer this time bc the momentum was there, but I found myself in a bit of a pickle (as sandwich enthusiasts say). I needed to go to a lunch meeting and I still had the position open. So I set a limit sell at 100% and went to lunch. It executed at lunch at the perfect time as it was just about the top for the day. I consider myself lucky on this one. I learned that even if you have a profitable position, you need to set some stops/limits bc sometimes you can’t watch all day. Additionally, even if you buy at the right time, selling at the right time is just as important if not more so. Now the bad news. I opened a SENS position and it lost money, so I tried averaging down and picked up some more at .40. I thought, hey I got the same price as Conq! Woke up this morning to the bad news. So today I guess I’ll be figuring out what the heck to do. Cut my losses or hold for a rebound. This is why I don’t like holding overnight on these small cap stocks that can make huge moves to the downside at the drop of a feather. In this case that feather was more of a shit-sandwich of an earnings report. The good news is I don’t have a large position bc of rule number 2: Look sharp, ya dumbass! Don’t YOLO.

Journal Entry 1 Summary
Starting Account Balance: $200
Ending Account balance: $369.79 (SENS losses not showing up yet)
Percentage gain/loss: 85%

[bajillion]

Today was up and down. Waking up to the SENS news started the day off with a bang. The kind of bang that usually signals grandma fell down the stairs again. I made a recovery though and ended up not too badly hurt.

Day 3 Trades
SENS 18Feb22 $4 call
Cost basis - 0.24, sold at 0.08
SENS 18Feb22 $3.5 call
Cost basis - 0.40, sold at 0.18
SENS 18Feb $3 put
Cost basis - 0.28, sold at 0.32
CVS 25Feb $103 put
Cost basis - 1.03, sold at 1.45

Day 3 Recap
I decided pretty quickly that I was going to cut bait on SENS, especially after seeing it try to fight back and then fail…hard. It also cut through my 50% loss line like a fat kid through cake. It was tough taking my first real loss, but at the end of the day it wasn’t a huge loss bc it wasn’t a huge gamble. I was able to pick up a put but then made my first real mistake. I sold it way too soon. I took profit, but I should have been more patient. As you can see above, it was weak sauce. Either I should have held it or I shouldn’t have bought it to begin with. But taking a position and then cutting it 10 mins later for tiny profit wasn’t the right move. And then came the recovery. I’ve been following the CVS position people have had and when things started to tank I picked up a put. I decided to take the profit to offset my losses rather than holding it over the weekend. I’m sticking to my strategy here which is don’t take unnecessary risks and don’t be dumb.

What saved me today: cutting my loser as soon as I could and not letting hopium fuel further losses. Instead of jumping into another bad trade, I took a pause and waited until I could decide what to do. That’s when the CVS trade set up and which turned around a red day into a really small green one. I’ll take it.

What hurt me today: The CVS play worked out well, however I also wanted to enter into a short SPY position. I didn’t have enough funds to pull it off though. If I could have gotten into SPY I’d have been up YUUUGE. This is where small account economics worked against me. Hopefully in another 2 or 3 weeks I’ll have a large enough account to pull off a few of these types of trades simultaneously.

Journal Entry 2 Summary
Starting Account Balance: $200
Ending Account balance: $371.36
Percentage gain/loss: 88%

[bajillion]

Had a good day overall. Slowly banking profit and continuing a winning streak. Made one bad play and 2 good ones.

Day 4 Trades
CVS 25Feb $100 put
Cost basis - 0.97, sold at 0.90
XOM 25Feb $78 call
Cost basis - 1.46, sold at 1.78
LCID 25Feb $26 put
Cost basis - 1.14, sold at 1.40

Day 4 Recap
I was pretty undecided this morning on what to play. I was going to play SPY but realized that the premiums were too high for my account if I wanted anything close to ATM. My second choice was a put on AFRM but with IV of well over 100% I had the same problem with SPY. Trading with a small account means I have to forgo high premium options unless I want to risk a substantial portion of my account in a single play. And I do not. Well, maybe I do. I mean…no, I don’t. I’m serious. I don’t. I will not blow my gains betting 50% of my account on a single trade. I can’t do it. So I decided to take a run at a CVS put. CVS dropped, and then it came back up and I entered thinking it would continue to fall with SPY. It did not cooperate. I decided to set a stop and pulled a dumb-dumb and entered a limit sell instead. It executed immediately. That was probably a good thing bc CVS continued a meager run and this saved me money today. However, I should have been happy with my CVS gains from Friday and entered a different higher conviction play instead of just tracking the chart. Especially on a day like today with all of the uncertainty.

I followed Conq into XOM and took a quick profit when it ran up, pulled back a bit and then ran higher. I was happy with this quick gain after my CVS choice. Looking back I could have stuck with XOM and extracted more profit but until I get a bigger account I’m loathe to forgo decent profit in hopes something really runs. I’m not ready to let profit run at this point.

My last play was based on @thots_and_prayers call out on LCID. LCID tends to shoot way up, and then come right back down so I dove in, set a limit and let it ride. It executed at about the peak and I was happy.

Overall my strategy has continued to work. Don’t be dumb, and take profit. I have this server to thank for hammering that into my skull over and over. Applying these rules in a small account limits what I can do, and it pretty much requires I get in and get out quickly. Because my positions are so small, I can’t really trim to take the profit. I have to close them which means holding overnight is risky. Once I get this thing to around $1000 and can buy more contracts I’ll adjust and probably start holding overnight on stronger conviction trades. I’m almost halfway there.

Journal Entry 3 Summary
Starting Account Balance: $200
Ending Account balance: $422.00
Percentage gain/loss: 113%

[bajillion]

Crazy day today, because I was dumb. I got jittery and made some poor choices, but managed to turn the day green. At least for now. I’m still holding 2 positions however, so we shall see what tomorrow brings, as they old saying goes.

Day 5 Trades
MAR 18Feb $185 call
Cost basis - 1.30, sold at 1.15
XOM 25Feb $79 call
Cost basis - 1.08, still holding +2.31%
VIAC 18Feb $40 call
Cost basis - 0.19, sold at 0.25
SOFI 18Mar $15 call
Cost basis - 0.52, still holding +16.35%

Day 5 Recap
Where to begin…oh the humanity. I saw @thots_and_prayers callout on MAR and since I didn’t have a direction I took a look. I liked the run-up but figured it would pull back. And then I got stupid. I tried to put in a limit order before I had to go run and pick up the kids, and it didn’t executed. Tried to adjust it on the fly while in the car in a parking lot and ended up with a fill that was less than ideal. Was a little concerned when the pullback continued after I got home so I stepped away from the computer and took a breather. I put in a stop order to protect myself and it started to climb. It was ramped up 40% and I set a limit but got greedy. It never came close to that price again. I screwed the pooch at both ends on this one. I should have taken that profit when I saw it, but I wanted to let it run. I don’t know why it dropped so fast off that peak, other than it’s only 4 DTE. I’m still very inexperienced with these close to expiration and will need more experience on these. I had to work so I set a stop to protect myself and it executed at a loss about 30 mins later. This was my third mistake. I set my stop too close I guess. Has anyone ever told you that stop losses on options don’t work very well? Well they don’t. I thought I gave myself enough margin but I didn’t and took the L.

I next picked up the XOM call on a pullback and I’m down for the thesis of war FUD driving this up further. I got a good entry and will let this ride tomorrow.

SOFI was a technical play as it’s at the bottom of its channel. This will be my first longer hold as I got the Mar expiry so I can let this one play out. I won’t be watching this one as closely and will let it go at least until the end of this week.

VIAC was a quick scalp from the TF based on a breakout of resistance. I took the quick profit since it’s an earnings play and my worst trading experience in my life was an earnings play that went wrong. I won’t be doing that again anytime soon.

Journal Entry 4 Summary
Starting Account Balance: $200
Ending Account balance: $432.11
Percentage gain/loss: 116%

[bajillion]

Today was a great day. I was disciplined and I took profit instead of getting greedy and missing my window like yesterday. So you can teach a dog new tricks. People can change. I’m living proof.

Day 6 Trades
XOM 25Feb $79 call
Cost basis - 1.08, sold at 1.70
XOM 25Feb $81 call
Cost basis - 0.43, sold at 0.40

SOFI 18Mar $15 call
Cost basis - 0.52, sold at 0.75

BKKT 25Feb $8.50 call
Cost basis - 0.97, sold at 1.25

TLRY 18Mar $8 call
Cost basis - 0.46, still holding -1%

Day 6 Recap
Today got off to a bang with the open XOM pop. I wasn’t sure if I should sell or hold, but then I thought about it for 2 seconds and sold. Just need that profit, baby! I don’t need a bagger. And then the stupid set in and I followed The Challenge into it again. Not that the play was stupid, but I was stupid bc I shouldn’t have followed it. I don’t want to overtrade and I said I was done for the day. If I break this rule, and then the next rule, and the next, then the whole system falls apart. It’s total anarchy. And of course XOM drops like a rock the minute after I picked up a call. I decided I needed to cut this quick bc worse than making this mistake is letting the losses grow. So I took my loss now so I get to decide what my mistake will cost me.

I was going to hold SOFI longer term, but changed my mind and took the profit when it got rejected at the 13.20 resistance. I don’t know if that was the right call or not bc I know it can run, but I’d rather take sure profit now and re-enter later.

I followed The Challenge and got into BKKT and got out quickly for a nice 30% or so gain. Not much else to say about this one, other than it was the right exit bc it went down from there. Or, I guess there is more to say. I probably overshot on the limit buy and paid a little too much, but I’m not going to sweat the pennies.

Journal Entry 5 Summary
Starting Account Balance: $200
Ending Account balance: $544
Percentage gain/loss: 172%

So far I’m doing a lot better than I expected. It’s only been 6 days, but I’m turning a great profit. My only concern at this point is responding to a down day appropriately. I know it’s going to come and probably soon. I need to gird my loins, straighten my spine and take it on the chin like a man and not go on tilt and hoist myself on my own petard. To Valhalla we ride!

[Sahmyool]

Killin’ it, love to see it.

[bajillion]

Ugh. Today was not a good day. I missed the opening because I had to take my daughter to the doctor. The rest of the day I felt like I was chasing and I don’t really know why. My emotions got the better of me I guess. I would have been better off just not trading at all today, but you live and you learn. I got my first losing day out of the way. Better days ahead.

Day 7 Trades
BX 25Feb $129 call
Cost basis - 1.74, sold at 1.25

XOM 25Feb $79 call
Cost basis - 1.06, still holding +8%

LMT 25Feb $410 call
Cost basis - 0.95, still holding -5%

Day 7 Recap
I missed The Challenge trades this morning, as well as my entry into BX that I wanted first thing. Instead of taking in my surroundings, and getting my bearings I chased BX like a dog chasing his tail. I got in too high, and then I held too long. My reason for targeting BX is also bc I misread a chart and thought I had a signal I did not have. AGAIN, this is bc I was chasing and not slowing down and taking my time. I could have taken profit at around 15% but due to my signal being wrong I held and missed my profit window. It was a slow bleed out until I cut it. If this market wasn’t tumultuous I would likely have tried holding for a few days, but due to the unknowns I cut it.

XOM was a take later in the day on a pullback. I added a second call when it dropped a little more and lowered my basis. Holding until we get more news tomorrow.

I picked up LMT after it came down from the top. Unfortunately I biffed my limit order. The price on this particular strike was bouncing around a lot. I probably should have lowered it more before slapping that buy button, but alas I didn’t. I considered picking up a put on this at it’s top, but couldn’t make myself do it. I was gun-shy after this mornings BX bad news bears.

Journal Entry 6 Summary
Starting Account Balance: $200
Ending Account balance: $493
Percentage gain/loss: 146%

I finally hit my first speed bump, and it was all my fault for chasing. Lessons learned today: if you miss your entry window, sit tight in your big boy panties, and don’t chase tail like an asshole. You can’t afford to make dumb mistakes like that. If I had of just been patient, I likely would have noticed that BX wasn’t a call entry today and I would have been better positioned to look for a put entry. By the time I got my head on straight, it was too late for puts.

So I’ve taken my first loss now and got that out of the way. Learn from it and move one. Tomorrow, will be a better day.

[bajillion]

I was wrong. Today was not a better day. It was another fat loss for me, homies. Did I learn anything? I don’t think I did. Today just reinforced the fact that sometimes you just lose out on a trade. Nothing you can do except control the bleeding.

Day 8 Trades
XOM 25Feb $79 call
Cost basis - 0.96, sold at 0.76

LMT 25Feb $410 call
Cost basis - 0.95, sold at 0.85

SPY 18Feb $430 put
Cost basis - 0.63, sold at 0.76

Day 8 Recap
In order to control the bleeding I cut LMT at a $10 loss. And then I followed The Challenge and scaled out of my XOM trade. I tried averaging down, but with a limited amount of capital I could only average down so far and still ended up taking a loss. Maybe I could have held a touch longer on LMT and gotten out even. Maybe I could have waited on cutting XOM and not lost quite so much. But I’d rather sell at a small loss than miss the upward move and have to take a bigger one. This way I can live to trade another day.

The only good news is I successfully scalped SPY for a 20% gain. It would have been a lot better if I was a bit more patient on my entry, but I am starting to feel things a little better and I think the next time I go for a scalp I should get a better entry.

Journal Entry 7 Summary
Starting Account Balance: $200
Ending Account balance: $415
Percentage gain/loss: 108%

I survived 2 days of bad trading and I’m still up over 100% from when I started so I guess that’s good? It doesn’t feel very good bleeding out 75% of my gains though. It feels bad. I’m going to try to stay positive though and keep getting better. I’ve improved a ton since I first arrived on the discord. I just need to get better at practicing what I’ve learned.

[MENoir]

The second week of my journal saw me lose almost all the gains I’d made the previous week. Shit sucks. Made a lot of mistakes that week that I thought I’d gotten over.

But, you’re still up over 100%, and that’s awesome. Controlling the bleeding is sometimes the best you can if you made a bad entry or the market just said “nah, too bad”. I’ve lost a ton of money before thinking I would just get out at breakeven and breakeven never came.

Here’s to next week and new plays. Forget about your account and enjoy your weekend bro, accounts don’t exist on the weekends.

[bajillion]

I spent most of this past week trading poorly. Rather than break down each one into detail, I’ll just highlight them. I had a couple of good trades, and several bad ones. What happened with the bad ones? Impatience and poor planning. I jumped into too many trades without properly weighing the risk to my entire account by purchasing contracts that were too expensive. This increased my risk, made me uncomfortable and lead to me exiting. In 3 cases, I exited prematurely and had I held I would have exited profitably instead of taking losses.

XOM - I played this one the most. The first 2 times I was profitable, but then I got careless. I took a contract at a good price, then I tried averaging down. I averaged down again and the price continued to fall. I couldn’t average down anymore bc I didn’t have the funds to do so and to risk anymore would have been way too dumb. So I slowly cut my positions loose and came out at a loss overall. I took a few profitable trades, and turned the entire thing into a loss. It wasn’t a devastating loss, but still a loss nonetheless.

LMT - I bought one contract, and sold at a $10 loss when the price fell. This is one where I couldn’t really afford to play it. I had to buy a $410 strike with a Feb expiry in order to afford it, which was pretty far OTM at the time. I had to put 25% of my portfolio into this one position to pull it off, and I couldn’t afford to average down anymore. While I have to be comfortable putting 25% into a position, I shouldn’t put that much in for contracts that far OTM. That was risky. Because of the risk and my discomfort, I cut this one short for a $10 loss and missed out on what would have been a very nice gain if I would have held onto it.

UNG - This was a nice win. Picked this up, averaged down once and then sold on the morning pop for about a 90% gain. This worked bc the contracts weren’t too expensive for me. I could afford to buy in, average down and not feel overextended.

IRNT - this was a quick scalp and I timed it well. I read the DD and liked the thesis. I put in a limit order that executed on Friday afternoon as IRNT continued to run up. But after 2 days of running, it ran out of steam and it started to drop pretty quickly afterwards. I would have held onto this one longer, however the IV was 200%+ and I didn’t want to get crushed if it dropped off. I also don’t want the Russia catalyst to end up turning against me over the weekend so I took the 30% gain.

BTU - I played this one twice both successfully. This is an energy play and I’ve traded this stock the most over the past 2 years. I didn’t capture the huge move this stock experienced on Wednesday, and also avoided the huge downside move it had on Thursday. I went into Friday wanting to see if it could rebound. I saw a pretty nice buil flag and bought in and rode it up for about a 17% gain. The stock didn’t have strong momentum up near the end of the day so after a nice easy run up I got out.

OZON - This thing is strange. It had a giant run on Thursday, and then a slow bleed out Friday but it just hasn’t died yet. I’m hopeful it’ll die tomorrow, but who the heck knows what is going on here. I’m wishing I had of bought into RSX now. This is also another one where I allocated too much capital for my comfort level. As it stayed flat most of Friday I set a limit and cut one contract loose to limit my risk. I might regret that on Monday, but I still hope to come out in profit on this trade.

SPY - I scalped this once succesfully on Wednesday. I’m now holding a contract that I don’t have a lot of hope for expiring on Wednesday, unless we somehow get a negative Spy day on Monday. I don’t know how I feel about holding for a Tuesday pullback with 1 DTE. It’s probably more risk than my heart can bear (I’m old in case you didn’t know).

Overall I’m still up about 90% on my account. What I have learned is that I can make bad trades and still stay about even bc I don’t let them blow me up. Now I just need to keep making better trades and get this growth back on track.

[bajillion]

Trades
SPY 02Mar $422 put
Cost basis - 1.48, sold at 2.20

RSX 11Mar $11 put
Cost basis - 1.76, sold at 1.85

RSX 11Mar $12 put
Cost basis - 2.00, still holding +28%

BTU 18Mar $18 call
Cost basis - 1.30, still holding -4%

Recap
Had much better control today. I didn’t rush into anything and didn’t panic sell/fomo buy. Sold SPY on the morning gap down for I believe maximum profit. Maybe I could have held a little longer and took a bit more profit this afternoon, but it would have been a big gamble for a small amount of extra profit. Happy with how this trade turned out.

I took a quick RSX scalp this morning, and then re-entered. Am holding this overnight hoping for a further drop tomorrow.

I got into BTU after watching it for a while. Admittedly, I could have gotten in cheaper if I had of waiting longer, but BTU had a good run into close and its got some bullish momentum (I think). I"m holding this for a further run tomorrow and will try to take profit.

I’m happy with how today turned out, although I have a long way to go. I’ve basically remained even over the past 2 weeks and was hoping I’d be further along by now. I’m not going to dwell on it though. Onward and Upwards.

Balance
Starting Account Balance: $200
Ending Account balance: $556
Percentage gain/loss: 178%

[bajillion]

Trades
RSX 11Mar $12 put
Cost basis - 2.00, sold at 3.10

RSX 18Mar $9 put
Cost basis - 1.75, still holding +25%

BTU 18Mar $18 call
Cost basis - 1.30, sold at 2.10

OZON 18Mar $10 put
Cost basis 1.47, still holding -27%

Recap
Today was a continuation of smarter trading from yesterday. I followed my rules correctly which today involved scaling into a position, and cutting for profit instead of holding too long. I cut my RSX and BTU calls at open to capture the profit and it was great profit. I then got back into RSX at 1.55, and then added at 1.95. I tried adding at lower cost throughout the day but those puts aren’t budging much thanks to high IV. I’m happy with my entries overall and have a decent profit. I’ll look to offload these at open again tomorrow if we get another gap down.

But here’s where I did something correctly that I’ve struggled with last week. I didn’t go hunting for the next trade and jump into something just because I have cash to trade with. I just relaxed today and watched the market while my account increased in value as my trades that are working continued to work. I didn’t offset the day’s gain with poor entries on the next play. I considered a SPY scalp, but held off bc both of the times I was ready I had a call coming up and wouldn’t be able to watch it so I didn’t do it rather than do it anyways and hope it was profitable by the time my call was over. That’s progress.

I’m closing in on my first goal which is an account value of $1000. Maybe I’ll hit that by the end of this week!

Balance
Ending Account balance: $777
Overall Percentage gain/loss: 293%

[bajillion]

Trades
RSX 18Mar $9 put
Cost basis - 1.75, sold at 2.60

RSX 18Mar $7 put
Cost basis - 1.63, holding +23%

RSX 11Mar $5 put
Cost basis - 0.74, holding -2.5%

WEAT 18Mar $9 call
Cost basis - 0.85, holding +0.52%

CORN 18Mar $25 call
Cost basis - 0.85, holding +9%

VALE 14Apr $23 call
Cost basis - 0.15, holding +3%

OZON 18Mar $10 put
Cost basis 1.47, still holding -27%

Recap
Good day overall. Sold RSX at open, however I didn’t get the best fill because I had a work call at the same time. I re-entered RSX based on Conq’s callout of strikes and expiry’s. I averaged into the position throughout the day. I thought I was done except for maybe 1 more $5 put to average down, however I forgot about a limit order I put in for the $7 put. It executed while I was on another call so that capped me out.

Picked up WEAT and CORN thanks to The Challenge, and then at the end of the day I picked up one VALE call. It was very cheap and it won’t make me a lot of money, but I wanted to see if I could scalp it at a good price and I was able to do so. We will see what happens.

I’m closing in on my first goal which is an account value of $1000. Maybe I’ll hit that by the end of this week!

Balance
Ending Account balance: $925.40
Overall Percentage gain/loss: 382%

[bajillion]

Trades

RSX 18Mar $7 put
Cost basis - 1.63, sold at 2.75

RSX 11Mar $5 put
Cost basis - 0.74, holding +78%

RSX 18Mar $5.5 put
Cost basis - 1.73, holding +21%

WEAT 18Mar $9 call
Cost basis - 0.85, sold at 1.15

CORN 18Mar $25 call
Cost basis - 0.85, sold at 1.00

VALE 14Apr $23 call
Cost basis - 0.15, added to this position and holding: +13%

IPI 18Mar $70 call
Cost basis - 2.50, holding: +13%

OZON 18Mar $10 put
Cost basis 1.47, still holding -27%

Recap
Not only did I hit my first milestone, I blew right through it. Bangers everywhere today. More specifically, the same ticker, multiple bangers. I’m mostly in RSX bc…duh. I’m not going to write much about it because you already know about it. Yes, I played and yes it’s been a mint. Thanks @Conqueror!

Only regret was cutting WEAT and CORN this morning on the pop. I should have held those, especially WEAT bc of the thesis. These are going to be in demand during and following this war. Maybe I’ll re-enter tomorrow, but we’ll have to watch the price action.

Add an IPI based on The Challenge. I took a higher strike bc I didn’t want to risk more than this in a single contract. I’ll be buying more expensive contracts in the future bc my account has grown enough to allow it, but I have to be careful that I don’t over-leverage while keeping some room to average down/up as needed. So I took a farther out strike. I might miss out on some gain as a closer to money strike, but it’s worth the trade off for me.

Balance
Ending Account balance: $1382.94
Overall Percentage gain/loss: 621%

[bajillion]

Trades

RSX 11Mar $5 put
Cost basis - 0.74, holding +51%

RSX 18Mar $5.5 put
Cost basis - 1.73, holding +13%

WEAT 18Mar $12 call
Cost basis - 1.59, sold at 1.83

WEAT 18Mar $12 call
Cost basis - 1.45, still holding +24%

WEAT 14Apr $13 call
Cost basis - 2.20, still holding +18%

VALE 14Apr $23 call
Cost basis - 0.16, sold at 0.30

VALE 14Apr $22 call
Cost basis - 0.50, still holding +14%

OZON 18Mar $10 put
Cost basis 1.47, still holding -27%

Recap
I cut some WEAT lose for profit and then reentered. I sold VALE as it came down, then re-entered at a lower strike. I attempted to add more VALE but it never executed. I’ll probably try to pick up more tomorrow. A lot of my capital is tied up in RSX and OZON so I’m not actively able to trade much, but I am still making gains so no complaints from me. Finished up about 15% on the day.

Balance
Ending Account balance: $1585.07
Overall Percentage gain/loss: 694%

[bajillion]

Just doing a quick recap of this week. It was a bloodbath most of the week. I cut WEAT at about a 75% loss, and of course my RSX will expire worthless. I currently have 2 non-challenge positions both are in the red currently: IPI 3/18 put and one BX 3/18 call.

The one thing that worked this week was a SPY scalp. I’m currently positive in my SPY scalps overall so I may try some more of these next week. But I also am going to be a lot more careful in my trading.

I absolutely learned a lesson. I cannot over leverage into positions which is exactly what hosed me with WEAT. WEAT didn’t work obviously, but my over leveraging is what did me in. I have to come up with a better set of rules for position sizing this weekend. Otherwise, I’ll repeat these mistakes again.

Account Balance: $938

[bajillion]

Today was pretty ho-hum. I closed out my IPI trade for a 60% gain. I averaged down on my BX position twice and so far it’s down -45%. If I can get a little pop on it tomorrow I might be able to come out ahead on that one. We shall see. My balance took a big hit when the RSX contracts rolled off today.

Account Balance: $741