Labubs' Trading Journey

[Labubs]

It’s definitely past time I started one of these. I’ve been keeping a paper journal for just about a month now, and looking back, some days I write out absolutely everything, some days it’s just a thought (I have one page that just says “Fuck the OCC/CBOE/SEC. Crooks.”…clearly I was upset about RSX, but that doesn’t help me today). So keep that in mind and bear with me as I try to summarize the past month best I can, with here on out really listing the details (entries, exits, thoughts and feelings about plays). If RSX/OZON is still stinging, fair warning, I had a lot of increasing copium going on that first half of the month.

I started this journal right in the middle of RSX/OZON, so I was up decently for my port, it came back down and is slowly making it’s way back up. My P/L was all over the place, intial deposit in Juy was $1900, it pinged around $1500-$2k while I was learning the market/options til December and ESSC #1. I got out of that on pure dumb luck, was up to $3300, promptly down to less than $1k on round 2. I really struggled down there, thanks to Conq, the challenge, and war plays for pulling me up and giving me my cushioning back. I was then up to $3900, which is when I started the paper journal.

I got overly confident and started bleeding on what felt like every play, and the ‘safe’ $1100 or $1200 locked up in RSX/OZON soon became half my port. Had $2800 going into the expiry, it knocked me down to ~$1600, then other plays I messed up brought that down further to $1200. That was very frustrating. Brought that back up to $2100, mainly through forum plays, GLD and BA, had just about doubled that to $4100 at the peak of last week with the memes, escaped GME about breakeven but took a loss on AMC, back to $2500. I know, this is already chaotic, and it seems I luck in and out of plays, but each time I lose I take a lesson from it, and I’ve gotten a lot better with risk management and playing options in general (remember, I didn’t even know what a put or a call was last July lol). For me, especially after experiencing large plays and their effects on my trading style, it’s becoming all about compounding small gains so I can begin wheeling, that’s my main goal at the moment.

Journal begins, I transcribed word for word, with a few (4-4:thoughts) added:

3-7
Holding commodities and the Russian positions.
SLV 3/11 24c, 2x 3/18 24c
WEAT 3x 3/18 11c, 3x 3/18 24c
FCX 2x 3/18 48c, 3/18 49c
WFC 2x 3/18 50c
CCL 5x 4/14 20c
RSX 3x 3/18 5p 2x 3/18 6p
OZON 2x 3/18 10p
Bad BBBY lottos, apparently

3-8
Look into entries- GLD (You know the drill, ITM, mid-far expiry)
GGPI 10c, 12c 4-14 (4-28?)
Decide on CCL
Entered URA, GGPI, SCO, GLD, FCX calls, BNO puts
Sold WFC for tiny loss, avg down really saved it
Avg down on CCL
All entries exited very green, but ‘only’ +3% on the 7d. Red Monday, slightly averaging down and forum plays saving grains. WEAT at make or break, avg down too hard or not enough? Red today, but should print, catalysts coming through. Remember to sell BEFORE average down to keep same position size w/ better cost.
AH notes on this one- Good entries and pops keeping me afloat. Cut the WEAT and reposition later? Watch CORN, probable cut and reposition elsewhere. (4/4-Looks like I bought CORN on 3/4)

3-9
Closed out everything except RSX/OZON halts. WEAT did not work out.
Entered BA 3/18 180c (note 3/10- paid well, work on those entries!)
GGPI 4/14 10c and 12c
GLD 3/18 187c
Took the day to cut losers and secure cash, didnt want too much risk. BA is touchy, keep up with it but trust your gut. GGPI April, consider long term outlook, though selling and re-entry never hurt anyone (4/4- Oof owie these woulda paid more than they did, though I have played this a few more times since)
Big wins this week only offset grain losses, these fucking ETFs are annoying me. Oh well.

3-10
GLD paid, 2.60-6.85, fuckin awesome!
Opened:
CCJ 2x 3/18 27c, 1x 3/18 27.5
Holding GGPI and GLD, average down? Go for 1.70 fill. Got it.
BA- Paid, re-entry @ $165-$175 level
WFC 4/14 spread, 50c/47.5p Chart here can break either way, and will hit both. Downtrend looks more likely and preferred, as I can ride IV on call back up (4/4- I remember this one, it went the exact other way hah)
GGPI small EoD dump, watch AH and PM Monday. Look for 10.85 support and bounce. Possibly catch an avg down if flagging. Lots of time on em too

3-14
Wish I could sell the OTM BA 3/18s as suggested in thread, but no collateral. C’mon RSX lockup…
Averaged GLD and CCJ down
Entered:
AER 4/14 47.5p 2.40
FXI 4/14 27p 1.45
FCX 4/14 46c 2.59
HGEN 5/20 2.5c
Closed call leg of WFC, watch the put
GGPI- Chart it out, has been entering a downtrend after staying kinda flat…Have til April on em
PLTR and NLSN puts (on the blown up Webull day trader)
Last minute USO and BNO calls for probable morning gap

3-15
EVERYTHING IS FUCKING BACKWARDS!
GLD cut at stop loss
HGEN cut
FCX cut
GGPI cut 12.5c
SLV cut 23c
Entered:
AMC 3/25 14p
HOOD 3/25 10p
ASHR 4/14 30p
HYMC 4/14 2.5p
Holding:
FXI 4/14 26p
WFC 4/14 47.5p
BNO 29c (wtf oil?)
USO 73c(^)
SLV 23c and 24c
GGPI 10c
Getting nervous on RSX. No resolution and they’re worthless, delisting doubles my account. Which is going to happen, multiple times. You got this. De-risk and take a breather, you are losing too much money chasing car costs.

3-16
Horrible week. Set to lose all gains. Closed most things, entered BNO and USO.
WSM $10 lotto, take profit at open
AMC puts- cut tomorrow sometime
Holding SLV 23 and 24c
2x ASHR 30p
2x BNO 28cc
1x USO 70c
GGPI 10c goes on a pop
PLEASE OIL GO BACK UP

3-17
Oil paid, thank god. Webull is FUCKED, RSX+OZON looking to expire worthless, -1.1k instead of +4.6k. Fuck.
Re-entered BNO calls, AMC puts, BRCC puts, cut HOOD put tomorrow, cut ASHR put tomorrow

FUCK THE OCC, CBOE, SEC, AND VANECK. ALL CROOKS.

3-18
RSX and OZON fucking expired. Unbelievable. Illegal.

Exited all position because of this. 2 scalps on WFC, only one more PDT left. Emergency use only, screw RH anyway though. You need a set up.
Need to optimize the setup! Laptop only shows one thing at a time. I need to be able to monitor all positions on one screen. Probably need to get some news subscriptions or something (4-4: yeah, you do…)
Bad week for everyone, but you’re not fucking dead yet. Just getting started. You’ve learned so much since starting this, everything is starting to click. You know you can do this successfully.
Set your bid and let it hit. Cut red over -30%, don’t fall into sunk cost, unless a truly unusual case.

Sunday 3-20
Going into this week:
Look at BRCC puts (potential catalyst)
Watch BA
SPY Technicals: -10% downside, S&P 3700 NASDAQ 11700
Last time was up 1%+ 4 days straight, 15th time since 1920 (4-4: I don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about here. I think this is from sneaking a picture of my friend’s shitty paid server, I mention referencing a pic)
GGPI play 10-12 range
DBC Trend line?
*MU Earnings runup- 84c, if over $79.50 and the 200 MA (4-4: I really fucked this one up, you’ll see)
*CVX- 167.5c, oil trend, 160 support on oil dump
JNPR- 37c, Starting to show strength, April swing for possible 52 week high breakout
CCJ- 30 PT, 26.50 resistance, 24.50 support
DKS- Squeezable? 200ma close, needs to hold 113.50
Earnings- MU, GIS, IONQ(+share unlock)

3-21
NICE JOB NOT DOUBLE CHECKING AND BUYING MU PUTS INSTEAD OF CALLS, THEN PDT SELLING THE PUT AT -$50 AND BUYING A CALL AT THE TOP. EASY MONEY YOU NOW HAVE TO MANAGE CAREFULLY, DUMB FUCK!
WFC- PLEASE gap up!
BA- 4/1 195c
XLE- 4/1 80c
MU- 4/14 75p+80c (IDIOT)
WFC- 3/25 51c, 52c 4/14 55c, 52c
CINF- Weird ass ticker, no volume. Picked up 3 to see what happens. Selling ASAP (4-4: What happens is I am literally the only person in the world holding this shit lol. Don’t buy 0 OI/Volume hoping to pawn em off on another fat finger, lmao)
Boeing crash could really fuck up your call, look out for military news

3-21
WFC paid! Thank you god for putting such incredible people in my path. I owe Jekyll a beer. Scalped SPY intraday and bought one 440p overnight.
SPY 3-25 440p 0.9
BA 4-1 195c 3.50
AFRM 4-14 40p 2.75
AMD 4-14 117c 4.60 (4-4: GUH)
BNO 4-14 32c 2.4
MU 4-14 75p 3.70 (dumbass)
UVXY 4-14 15c 1.80
CINF 5-20 170c 0.38 (no buyers…)

SPY 440p didnt go well, thankful for the WFC in there to help build back dollar by dollar. One year. One. Year. Good day, +283/16.6%

3-22
BNO paid! Exited the rest. Entered mainly WFC. BA paid, looking for news pop

3/22-3/23
WHY are you stressing?
-Mad about AMC
-Overextended on WFC
-BA can be huge, up or down

3/23
Should have bought puts on WFC. Down day. PDT prevented me from exiting AMC calls. Get off the margin nipple already. They were up 127%…still up, and Conq bought a bunch more, but shit man. WFC took a chunk out…
AMC 4-1 20c 1.6
UVXY 4-1 15c 0.98, 17c 0.12
WFC 4-1 2x 53c 1.00, 54c 1.13, 55c 0.1 4-14 52c 2.35 (Please come back up…)
BA 4-14 190c 5.85, 195c 3.50
BBIG 4-14 2.5p 0.24, 3p 0.52
VALE 4-14 21c 0.50 (4/4-GUH!!)

3-24
Exited BA 195c, averaged down 190c on dip. Was the move, but this bad news AH could be terrible tomorrow, shit. Maybe not though. Weed stock boom.

TLRY 4-1 7c 0.36
FCX 4-1 50p 0.9, 51p 1.3
UVXY 4-1 15c 0.875
ZIM 4-1 75c 1.4
BA 2x 4-14 190c, 5.42
BBIG 4-14 3p 0.52, 2.5p 0.24
LFLY 4-14 10c 0.3
MAPS 4-14 10c 0.19
Cut WFC at a loss. Wasn’t coming back, and -30% is better than -100%. Please give BA a pop to exit and let me finish this week already.

3-25
BA went up! Can’t belive it! Thought that news was it for this one.
Shorting oil with BNO puts and SCO calls
AMC calls for potential GME squeeze
SNDL Calls and LEAPs for MJ bill, news run

Took it easy, half cash gang this weekend. Wanted in on GME but no FOMO, scratched that itch with AMC

3-28
GME actually has real potential again, the numbers are there! Fucking amazing day, this week could get nuts.
Sold AMC, scalped and re-entered GME to hold…+$1,691! This is the third time Conq’s challenge plays have saved your ass and taught you valuable lessons, you owe that man SO much!
Entered BA at $185.96, nice. 4-14 190c, 4.20->5.20

(Overnight)
Stay grounded. Don’t get greedy. No YOLO or FOMO.
-Monitor GME, AMC, and BA
-Entry to DNA? Great thesis by Kevin
-UPST - Watch for entry, refer to rexxar’s DD
Look into the mortgage backed securities stuff (not even for investing, for mom and dad)
-BBBY sympathy? Eh

3-29
Sold 1/3-2/3 AMC/GME on open spike, and rebought on dump. Exited BA for good profit. Entered DNA, WFC, BRK.B
BRKB swinging in price drastically, large spread, may be kind of annoying to unload

AMC 3x 4-8 40c 2.13
WFC 2x 4-8 52.5c 1.01
BRKB 2x 4-14 355c 5.35
DNA 3x 4-14 4c 0.78
GME 3x 4-14 510c 1.87
MAPS 2x 4-14 10c 0.19
WFC 2x 4-14 52.5c 1.48
DNA 2x 5-20 4c 0.75
SNDL 1x 5-20 0.5c 0.4
SNDL 6x 1-2023 0.5c 0.45

AMC/GME so far OTM for OI+retail FOMO

WRITTEN WEEKEND GOING INTO 4-4
Managed to escape the memes at a slight loss, which is honestly fine considering EoW. Trimmed and exited bleeders. BA and memes did pay, +445 on week, but it was tough. Red for the day, +332 on month. Feels like 5 steps forward and 2 back, but at least you are moving forward. All time performance is green.

1x DNA 4-14 4c 0.55
2x MAPS 4-14 10c 0.08 (cut soon?)
1x MOS 4-14 65c 3.20
1x MOS 4-14 68c 1.95 (More/average down for fertilzer thesis)
2x TKAT 4-14 5c 0.32
2x DNA 5-20 4c 0.71
8x HMHC 5-20 25c 0.175
2x SNDL 5-20 0.5c 0.325
4x VYGG 5-20 10c 0.14
1x BCFV 7-15 20c 1.90
6x SNDL 1-2023 0.5c 0.43

And that is the end of my written journal, minus today, which I’ll post below as a reply. So yeah, I can see some patterns, like much shorter/less detailed entries on particularly bad days, which is one of the bigger things I hope to fix by posting this. Accountability and all, and to keep track of everything. I’ll still write it out on paper as that helps me focus, but my main updates from here on out will be here. I still have a lot to learn, but this community/family already gives us all a huge head start, and that’s cause this is all so much more than just trading. That is and will continue be the reason Valhalla stands above the rest, like I mentioned above in one entry, I’ve seen what the paid servers have to offer through that friend of mine who didn’t really work out here, and they’re all shit, being drip fed just enough winners to keep a membership going with an extremely sad state of community. I think everyone here (and especially deep enough in the forums to be reading a trading journal) knows how incredibly lucky we all are to have found each other, it’s such an amazing group of minds here, and we know how to have fun to boot. I dick ride Valhalla a LOT, but that’s because I truly see big things coming from this place. Impact on the world type of things.

I hope to use this outlet to identify bad habits/entries/exits, plus I think it’ll be fun to look back on. Here’s to a wonderful future for us all! :cheers:

[Labubs]

Oh, format. I list number of contracts, ticker, expiry, strike, average cost.
4-4

Watch MOS and BRKB for exits ASAP. RKT Puts as well, and cut the rest of that DNA at open (it ain’t coming back).

1x BRKB 4-8 350c 0.95
1x RKT 4-8 11.49p 0.24
2x DNA 4-14 4c 0.475 (exit)
2x MAPS 4-14 10c 0.19 (exit!)
4x MOS 4-14 68c 1.59 (exit, watch that spread)
3x RKT 4-14 10.99p 0.17
2x THCA 4-14 12.5c 0.40
8x HMHC 5-20 25c 0.175
1x MOS 5-20 70c 3.90
6x VYGG 5-20 10c 0.12
1x BGFV 7-15 20c 1.90 (missed average down at 1.55 by one minute…need to decide faster, cant hem and haw over the chart all afternoon)
6x SNDL 1-2023 0.5c 0.43

Should have seen BA’s double touch of 186.90 and recognized the incoming bounce. Support moved up from 186.50 to 187. Hoping MOS and BRKB hold price or rise at open and that I’m able to get a fill in a decent spot in the spread.

Account Balance:
3,204.41 +363.84 +12.8% on the day
Down $973 on the week, however (this is thrown off from unrealized gains last week too though)
Up $149/4.8% on the month, $747.09/30.4% on the 3m, and up $1,210.10/60.66% on my 1y/All-Time
$1075.41 is sitting as Buying Power

My goal is to make 2-5% a day, or 5% a week, consistently. Aside from Boeing, a lot of these wins are coming from the challenge and forums, which I’m eternally grateful for, as they’ve been teaching me a lot about entry and exits (even if I sometimes don’t follow my gut and go for something I shouldn’t, I can at least recognize that now). I don’t know if it’s all starting to ‘click’, if it’s the examples I’ve been following, being active in VC more often, most likely a combination of everything, but between December and today my trading has improved noticeably, so long as I continue moving forward and learning from mistakes, I really believe I can and will be a successful trader. I know I have all of you to thank in one way or another, so thank you all! What’re the kids saying these days? Right, LFGGGG!

[Labubs]

Love mornings like this!

Sold:

1xBRKB 4-8 350c @ 1.30 (bought at 0.95)

1xMOS 5-20 70c @ 4.80 (bought at 3.90)

2x MOS 4-14 68c @ 2.64 (average at 1.59)

2x MOS 4-14 68c @2.80 (set limit at 2.50, happily surprised they gave me the full fill)

2x DNA 4-14 4c @ 0.25 (average at 0.475, I held this about 3 days too long)

2x THCA 4-14 12.5c @ 0.40 (average at 0.40, fat fingered this one, oof. Thought I was holding 4 for some reason, couldn’t cancel order in time)

2x RKT 4-14 10.99p @20 (average 0.17)

1x RKT 4-14 10.99P @21 (average 0.17)

Bought:
2x BEEM 4-14 25c @1.12 (one at 1.10, one at 1.15, man, what a call out Conq!)
Edit 10:30am- Had to sell these when they passed $2 each, got filled on both at $2.05. Just about 100% in an hour, Conq, you’re a genius…it literally amazes me, the way you make the market your bitch )

Today is looking to be meme-y on Twitter and SST. Not gonna chase, not really worth the risk. Keep building up bit by bit. Mostly done for the day with +$369/12.4% profit after these moves. Keeping an eye/ear out for some plays that aren’t as red hot as things like SST/TWTR, there’s definitely potentially very high reward in those plays, but risk is too high for me.

Left some money on the table with MOS and BRKB, work on those exits. No excuse for the THCA mess up, you idiot.

Watching $T, as AT&T has an ex-dividend on 4-13. Probably going to grab some calls for 4-14 and May, but I have to check the charts etc and try to find the best entries. It’s sitting at 24, I wanna see a tiny dip under 23.95

BA dumping, go find out why

Editing this throughout/end of day, but I won’t be entering very much, mostly grabbing some challenge stuff and looking at $T and $BA for entries and in BA’s case, news. It’s really drilling (beginning of the downtrend back towards $180? Look at news for thread)

I had very good days yesterday and so far today, not gonna overtrade these gains away

Entered

2x T 4-14 24c 0.305
1x T 4-22 24c 0.41
1x T 5-20 24c 0.65

1x UPS 5/20 220c 1.50 (thinking of adding one more)

Watching TGT, but not sure yet…would’ve been an almost 200% play if I’d entered when I added the contract to my watchlist yesterday and sold on today’s pop, this was kind of the move I was thinking might happen. Probably some upside left though as it’s been lagging behind the sector…very undecided there. This is a regular issue for me, I’ll get a feeling of “Damn, missed it” and then actually miss it. On the other hand, I’ve also been burned with the same thinking.

2pm, still watching BA, especially here for a double bottom. Overall feeling kinda bearish short term, though it’s beginning to sound like the big news will be coming any day now. Which will either drill it to the core of the earth or send it flying. Just fell through bottom again, 181.50 gonna be the next support to watch for me…though I’m gonna pay attention to the $0.25 intervals as well, it seems to find (I’m assuming psychological) support there.

Gotta break this wick paralysis. Also still shooting my wads too early, entries are getting better but let some of that green come in while selling, especially on contracts with time. I don’t need to be day trading May contracts at the first signs of red, let patterns play out.

2:30pm
1x MOS 4-14 70c 1.65 (this was a bit FOMO-y, hoping for a reversal off the intraday support. Hope it’s got one more green day in it, but definitely am getting the overplaying feeling from this, so just the one)

2:38pm
Limit for TGT 4/14 220c filled at 1.60. Same deal as above, just one more green day

4pm

Entered between 2:40 and EoD:

1x UPS 5/20 220c 1.65

3x THCA 4/14 12.5c 0.90

1x BA 4/14 200c 0.47

1x BBAI 4/14 10c 1.10

1x JBLU 4/14 14c 0.36

Boeing I’m still not sure about, was 100% a lotto/gamble type play hoping for a news pop. I have no real good reason to expect one, literally a coin toss. Saw those 200c under 0.50 and figured potential upside on a green day is worth the $50 risk.

Ending Balance:

$3,743.21, +538.8 0 (16.81%)
Buying Power $1,637.21

Missed the BEEM fills this morning by a few cents, that stings. Oh well, it’s alright, there’s always the next one. Continuing to shoot for my goal of ~$5k in the portfolio to begin wheeling and other theta gang type stuff, while still having a bit to trade with. Was a bit more passive today (though not as much as I originally planned), and I’ve been trying to keep at least 1/3 of my account as Buying Power, for averaging and those last minute type plays where I might want to slap the ask (not really that second one as much, I don’t like feeling I’m FOMOing, but sometimes something you just feel you should jump into pops up, y know?)

Editing to keep track of open positions more easily when looking back through the journal

2x BEEM 4-14 25c @1.12
2x T 4-14 24c 0.305
1x T 4-22 24c 0.41
1x T 5-20 24c 0.65
1x UPS 5/20 220c 1.50
1x MOS 4-14 70c 1.65
1x TGT 4/14 220c 1.60
1x UPS 5/20 220c 1.65
3x THCA 4/14 12.5c 0.90
1x BA 4/14 200c 0.47
1x BBAI 4/14 10c 1.10
1x JBLU 4/14 14c 0.36
8x HMHC 5-20 25c 0.175
6x VYGG 5-20 10c 0.12
1x BGFV 7-15 20c 1.90
1x CINF 5-20 170c 0.38 (worth a penny, trying to get a fill on any cut to get off the list)
2x MAPS 4-14 0.19 (Same as CINF)

[Labubs]

Not going to do much today, too much uncertainty, can’t lose if you don’t play (can’t win either, though)…

Exited at open:
3x THCA 4-14 24c at 0.95 (paper handed a bit, green is green though.=)
1x MOS 4-14 70c at 1.80
1x BBAI 4-14 10c at 5.40 (!!! Wow, should have went in a bit harder on these, at least gotten two…hindsight is 20/20, and just the one more than meets my daily goal. Thank you for the callouts on this one, what a pump )
1x UPS 5/20 at 1.50 (exactly break even, paper handed again)

Entered:
2x BEEM at 1.40 average (probably about to buy another and bring that down)

Averaged down the JBLU and TGT, TGT is having a great dip to average down on as I still think it’s playing catch up with the rest of the sector and that this red is very temporary, it keeps trying to push back up, caught one more at 0.95 for a new average of 1.32. May add one more, not sure. Probably wait til after all this FOMC stuff.

At&t ($T) play not really going your way so far, maybe a bit early? Maybe just plain wrong…another one that had a (potentially) good dip for buying, it’s making it’s way back up currently, setting limits on this just above my cost basis and hoping for a spike. If not, still believing at least one green day will come before the ex-div, question there becomes how invested am I in this play conviction wise? Not extremely, so definitely looking to exit those April strikes soon, probably the May as well. Cutting at any green

Monitoring the rest, lots of red in my port today. Keeping around 75% as cash for now til the market shakes out a bit.

Tempted to follow the challenge into GME, the retard energy on that really was something to behold the last run…maybe just the one…Almost certainly going to play the challege ZIM that popped up though

Still working on exits, really gotta get over the one or two red candle fear on the 3m charts. Maybe I should start using 5m or something? One of the reasons for keeping so much BP too, gonna have to work on the fear (well, emotions in general, I’m still selling at the first whiff of green and holding/not averaging sometimes through red). Had set a loose rule for myself to take profit at +10% or more, and cut at -30%. Should probably tighten that rule up a bit.

1x ZIM filled at 1.70, watching the chart to decide when on a second one

$T calls sold for very small profit, very nice green to get out on. Only a few bucks on each April, have one more 4/14 set to go at 0.35, and the May set for 0.75. Gonna watch close though, this is a big ass pump (would have been a nice buy this morning, but I obviously did not have the conviction on the play haha)

SYK 4-14 240p 1.00 limit from this morning hit…we’ll see what happens with this one, expiry probably too close and spread is wide, won’t be adding to this strike

Another BEEM buy limit hit, now have 4x 4-14 25c at 1.29 average

~Noon EST:

Out of T completely, very small profit, but I’m lucky it even came back this much. Looks like it wants to push up even further. Sold the 4/14 at 0.31, the 5/20 for 0.71. Saw $T struggling with $24.05 and two red candles after, figured I should cut em while it was above $24 and a few dollars above my average. More likely than not this will be another example of cutting early, this could very well be a bull flag, but single digit %s add up, and better to cut green than hold out for 3 more bucks that would only come if the chart broke through even higher than it has. Gonna count myself lucky for only wasting time on this gamble.

Everything else is red, but not severely, for the most part my averages are pretty close. Gonna hold from here, I’ll be checking in and out, but goal for the day hit, now just pray open positions end up profitable

Open Positions/Cost Basis

1x BA 4-14 200c 0.47
4x BEEM 4-14 25c 1.29
2x JBLU 4-14 14c 0.22
2x MAPS 4-14 10c 0.19
1x SYK 4-14 240p 0.98
2x TGT 4-14 220c 1.32
1x ZIM 4-14 60c 1.70
8x HMHC 5-20 25c 0.175
6x VYGG 5-20 10c 0.12
1x BGFV 7-15 20c 1.90 (probably buying one more to bring this down a bit considering July expiry, grabbing one at 1.35 this morning would have been nice)
8x SNDL 1-2023 0.40

10x UTAA shares, that info about the board member having a stake in OnlyFans is pretty spicy

Buying Power- $2,334.53
EoD edit- this has changed…see ya in 40 mins, lol

What the hell just died my daily profit went from 8% to 2% dammit

1:30pm-

BGFV 7-15 20c filled at 1.45, new average 1.68

ZIM 4-14 60c filled at 1.45, new average 1.58

Had 20 bucks left in Webull (blew this the fuck up on BBBY and other memes), scalped two SPY FDs (0dte FDs…) for ~$8 profit, only because of all the past info pointing to SPY moves on FOMC being talked about on TF. The main account I trade with is still on RH so no day trades there, otherwise I would have played this (only slightly) heavier. Will plan for it next time…as for the Webull, I’m gonna go with the Thots and Milly School of Trading and try and make like 1-5 % a day/week in there, until I have enough to put into an actual play…I’ll keep updates running on that as I go, but that very much will for low cost, varying risk, varying return plays and isn’t looked at every day.

3:25pm
Averaged down BA 200c, now 2x at 0.36, daily chart looks ready for green. Tempted to buy a 185 or 190c at this level, but news blows this thing around like a leaf…gonna have to decide soon

Bought 2x 5-20 HMHC 22.5c at 0.25, and 2 more 5-20 25c, bringing those to 10 contracts at 0.17. Hopefully this sustains/ pops as expected

Hmm BA one more EoD trail off before green, or triple topping out against 180? Will just hold the 200c, not adding more contracts today. (This changed, realized I posted it in the thread but not my thoughts here for looking back on… decided to take the 190c after looking at the daily and seeing a potential for green reversal, and from the ticker coming up in VC and chatting a bit about it. With the EoD positions looking good and SPY’s later run back up the risk reward was there for me)

End of Day

Open Positions-

QTY Date Strike Avg:
1x BA 4-14 190c 0.96
2x BA 4-14 200c 0.36
4x BEEM 4-14 25c 1.29
2x JBLU 4-14 14c 0.22
2x MAPS 4-14 10c 0.19
1x SYK 4-14 240p 0.98
2x TGT 4-14 220c 1.32
2x ZIM 4-14 60c 1.58
2x HMHC 5-20 22.5c 0.25
10x HMHC 5-20 25c 0.17
6x VYGG 5-20 10c 0.12
2x BGFV 7-15 20c 1.68
8x SNDL 1-2023 0.40
10x UTAA Shares $10.05

Buying Power $1,843.53

Account Balance: $4,299.03 +$555.82 (+14.85%)

Pretty proud of tempering emotion and grabbing average downs on things I possibly (probabaly) would have cut in the past. Those TGT calls opened way down, about 0.80, grabbed one at 0.95 and they are now up 50%. Those and ZIM both performed excellently today, really hoping for these levels to hold through open and I get some good fills while selling. Don’t like the spread on SYK puts, but think there’s potential there. BA looking ready for green on the daily, hoping no bad news comes in overnight. Buying at this level and selling on pops to 180, 182 has treated me well playing this in the past, so here’s hoping. Still playing very cautious and protective of gains, and limiting FOMO etc.

Historically, this is the level where I fuck my port up. First time was overleveraging into one ticker, second was slow bleed across way too many. Hoping I’ve found a happy middle and am properly limiting risk, I have a good feeling though. Which I’m wary of, as I had good feelings those other two times as well. Just keep learning and taking it one day at a time, and keep pushing emotion out. I know I can succeed in trading with enough time and experience, if I squint hard enough I’m juuust about making out the structure of all this stuff, gonna keep risk foreward in my mind and keep following my gut on plays. Slow and steady wins.

[Labubs]

Starting the log for the day while thoughts are still fresh. ZIM and TGT did great, the average down on TGT yesterday ended up being a good move, sold the two 220c for 2.76*. Sold one* ZIM for $2, one for $1.90 (edit- yeah, I’m mixing up my order history, that’s a sign to not trade very much today lmao).
BEEM had a nice little pop, decided to exit as fills were getting tough and the premiums weren’t moving too much. And I may or may not still have a low float scar or two still haha…(annnd now they’re jumping up, of course lol).

BA kinda being a little bitch again, with it’s PM tease of 180 down at 175 now. Hoping for one of those reversals back to PM/last day high it tends to have in the afternoon. Still thinking it’ll close back up towards 178 or 180, it’s beginning to trickle back up and does this sometimes on the types of news that came out last night (good news with lots of negative language, seems to confuse the ticker for an hour or two. Seems like most BA news gets a delayed or opposite reaction lately, might have to backtrack some of these stories and see if there’s any pattern to it at all…).

Entered CCL, one each of 5-20 20c at 0.95 and a 6-17 25c at 0.32 as a kind of starter. Looking at July a bit as well. Chatting in VC earlier and travel sector as a whole being down came up, I figure these are good dates, strikes, and prices for some early post COVID summer runs. I do need to look more into other companies and go off more than “sector down now, probably will be back up soon”…not exactly the due-est of diligances, not too much better than “stonks down, has to go back up”.

Exited:
2x TGT 4-14 220c 1.32->2.76
2x ZIM 4-14 60c 1.58->1.95 (1x 2.00, 1x 1.90)

Entered:
1x CCL 5-20 20c 0.95
1x CCL 6-17 25c 0.34

In Halt Hell:
2x HMHC 5-20 22.5c 0.25
10x HMHC 5-20 25c 0.17
So that’s looking at around $190 total loss. Added up all my buys on the 25c, came to $140 total cost, and I bought both 22.5s for $25 each. Oh well, could have been some epic shit, but it was always supposed to be one or the other, there was never gonna be a chance to recoup loss if it did go this way, so I went against the FOMO urge best I could on this one (those 22.5s were a little FOMO-y though, I was pretty locked in to the 25s…greed strikes again). Ah too bad, really surpised they accepted that offer.

Hmm BA probably gonna float sideways between 175 and 176 til afternoon, gonna take a serious run to break 180 today…I should lower my expectations to 178 (or 174.50, please no lol), but really just another one that’s too bad, this particular purchase was much more lotto-y than my other plays on this ticker.

Gonna maintain the positions I have open but not add too much more, I’ve had an excellent week, and in the past right around this $ amount is where I start fucking up in my port. Gonna be extra cautious and let the money sit for a minute while I decide the best way to use it going forward. Next week look into dipping your toes into selling cheap CCs or wheels.

Reminder to self, actual stock exists too, not everything has to be played with options, especially during a risk management phase. The week has been excellent and added to your cushioning, you don’t have to rush into losing it all. Practice good entry and exit over gains this upcoming week, even on plain old stock. Continue limiting exposure best you can. Keep finding your niche, instead of learning something about everything, learn everything about one thing. Then do that again.

Noon
Following the challenge plays, just on a lesser scale appropriate for my account, current risk tolerance, and goals…entered one THCA 4-14 at 1.00, (another example of a time I could have let the bid come to me, it dipped to bid quick soon after). BEEM 4-14 25c limit just hit for $1.55. Have an order pending for BEEM 4-14 35c at 0.65, it’s at 0.68, Iet’s try and put the bid patience to the test.

Hmm BA dropped below 174.50, still giving it a bit, but not looking great for the day. I swear I’m almost about to inverse PM on this thing going forward lol

1:50

Limit hit for THCA 4-14 12.5c at 0.85, new average 0.925
Have limit set on ZIM 4-14 60c at 1.50, might hit, probably not

2pm
Sold 4 of 8 SNDL’s for a loss, they’re just kind of hanging out at -50% for me, they were LEAPs so I’ll probably buy them back at some point and get the average down once things on these canna stocks become a bit clearer. Still very much passive today, after having a good week I need a day or two to reset and re-plan, I am extremely determined not to lose these gains again.

EoD
Can’t sell the THCA or BEEM’s I bought back into today cause there were so many other good scalps this week, really hoping this drives just 10 minutes of FOMO tomorrow, or we see that covering start. I already got profits from these tickers so they’re running off that, but if I want to really do this, it’s gonna be time to switch to cash account. Today started off exciting, got boring, and got really exciting again just now! Super thankful for everything I’ve been learning, and proud for not jumping into things haphazardly, keeping BP aside instead of trying to make it all x**%, and just all around having more diligence with all this. These journals really do help, I should have started this sooner! The paper one was good, but this adds another layer of…accountability? Not quite the right word, but it’s a lot different knowing everything’s gonna be public. Really grateful for a lot of things this week, Conq and Thots’ challenges/plays were some of my biggest winners this week alongside tickers we were discussing in VC, thank you guys truly
Last minute grab for one more BA 200c to bring the average under 0.30…we’ll see how that decides to open, I still feel it’s due for green, but these 4-14s are going tomorrow regardless, last real day for them to be profitable. Rolled out JBLU to May, and a SYK put to lower to average just filled too. (Honestly kinda forgot I set that one, but hey, maybe the new average will work out)

Open Positions
QTY Date Strike Average
1x BA 4-14 190c 0.96
3x BA 4-14 200c 0.29
1x BEEM 4-14 25c 1.55
1x BEEM 4-14 35c 0.70
2x MAPS 4-14 10c 0.19
2x SYK 4-14 240p 0.70
2x THCA 4-14 12.5c 0.925
1x CCL 5-20 20c 0.95
3x JBLU 5-20 13c 0.55
6x VYGG 5-20 10c 0.12
1x CCL 6-17 25c 0.34
2x BGFV 7-15 20c 1.68
4x SNDL 1-2023 0.40
10x UTAA Shares $10.05

Halt Hell
2x HMHC 5-20 22.5c 0.25
10x HMHC 5-20 25c 0.17
Total spent on these $190

Buying Power $2,353.35

Account Balance $4509.35 +$210.32 (unrealized, let’s hope THCA and BEEM keep this up for just 5 minutes tomorrow, lol)
(True Account Balance after HMHC gets removed: $4,319.35)

Alright, let’s hope for some halfway decent exits tomorrow morning Congrats to all who did get some nice fills this last half hour, got pretty wild there!

[Labubs]

Hmm, these are really for me to go back over and remember my thoughts, but I gotta figure out a shorthand or something, I’m gonna have a book by 2023 at this rate…don’t want to forget things either though. Find a middle ground to make these easier and quicker to go back through

[Labubs]

Wanted a quick day today, I was feeling yesterday that I didn’t want to overtrade and ended up with some red positions today so mainly taking the day to exit the overnight prayer holds (THCA and BEEM) and cut the losers (BA, JBLU, SYK…oh awesome, I cut the airlines at exact bottom lol). Following challenge back into BEEM on that pull back and also into NVDA, I like the daily on both NVDA and AMD which was being discussed in VC; was really 50/50 for me on a semiconducter, but didn’t want to go with both, I wanted comfortable room to average down if needed. Will buy stock in AMD though, actually, grabbed 2 shares.

Exited:
2x THCA 4-14 12.5c, one for 1.25, one for 1.40
1x BEEM 4-14 25c @ 1.85
1x BEEM 4-14 35c @ 0.70
3x BA 4-14 200c @ 0.1 (rip)
1x BA 4-14 190c @ 0.31 (rip)
2x SYK 4-14 240p @ 0.05 (that accidental average yesterday didn’t help this one, oh well, I knew the risks with such a wide spread. Catalyst seemed great)
1x BFGV 7-15 20c @ 1.85, another limit set for 2.00, we’ll see if it hits, but plenty of time on this still
2x JBLU 5-20 13c, one at 0.46, one at 0.45, have one more left I’ll let ride to see if travel recovers a bit

Entered
Mostly challenge stuff so far, really not looking to be entering too much today, I’m terrified of fucking up the account again, so I’m trying to give myself a few to settle and get into a new trading mindset. May be just the time to begin the switch over to TD/Webull fully…

2x SEAC 4-14 1c, one at 0.35, one at 0.25
1x NVDA 4-22 250c at 4.20
2x AMD shares

Scalp of the day- 2x TGT 4-14 240, bought one at 1.68, one at 1.60, sold one at 2.12, one at 2.10 (note to self, if I’m gonna use limited PDTs to scalp, which I shouldn’t be doing for much longer, buy multiple of the same strike/date as it only counts as the one, could have bought sold 6 of these for the same PDT. Bigger risk there if the trade fails though. happy with the return here for, what, half an hour? Awesome callouts in VC, thank you Jekyll for calling out multiple bottoms and the current top, those indicators and Heikin Ashi’s seem to be really working out!)

Really not gonna do much more today, may set some price alerts on the ones I wouldn’t mind holding for a bit like CCL to average down on another dip, but those are right around my buy in right now so I’ll wait, missed that morning opportunity

Dumped BA because they were 4-14s and it had fallen through 175, timed the bottom pretty perfectly on that sell lol. Ah well, as I said, I’m trying to get into a new mindset, I know these numbers might be funny/cute to some but trading at $1k vs $4k is a bit different, not every play feels so make or break (unless I overleverage myself), so yeah, going slow and steady and finding what works for me.

Looking to probably be a red day, but unless literally everything on my list goes to zero, it was a good week, and I’m more than happy with the returns. A good portion of that new balance came in this week, and it was a weird one, so another reason for going slower…did I pretty much luck/retard my way into gains on a crazy market week, or am I actually getting better at this? I think a bit of both, haha

See you in 40 minutes

2:40

Took most of today to work on charting a bit, figured it couldn’t hurt to go back to basics a little and try drawing out some trends, s/r, etc etc. No real trades since this morning, just an average down or two on open positions on this SPY dip. Also cut the last JBLU while it still had 9% on it, I figure that will probably get pulled under $12, so took the few bucks.

Added
2x VYGG 5-20 10c for 0.10, new average 0.13
1x SEAC 4-14 1c for 0.3, average 0.325
1x NVDA 4-22 250c for 3.30, average 3.75. Tempted to bring it down slightly further, but I’ll wait, $3.75 is a nice round average that NVDA (hopefully) should climb back past (I did get a fill a 3.05 EoD, brought average to 3.52 on 3 contracts. Mega )

99.99% sure that’ll be my positions locked in, as I mentioned before I’m kind of considering this area a transitory phase, so I need to adjust my headspace and trading style to suit. No more buying something and that’s just the average I have, trying to always keep enough powder ready for these little dips, and as a practice in discipline.

Open Positions:

2x BEEM 4-14 25c 1.40
2x MAPS 4-14 10c 0.19 (I missed exit on this, they’re worth a penny)
2x SEAC 4-14 1c 0.32
3x NVDA 4-22 250c 3.52
1x CCL 5-20 20c 0.95
6x VYGG 5-20 0.126
1x CCL 6-17 25c 0.34
1x BGFV 7-15 20c 1.68
4x SNDL 1-2023 0.40
1x THCA 4-14 12.5c 1.05
1x THCA 4-14 15c 0.60

10x UTAA shares 10.05
2x AMD shares 101.86

Buying Power: $1,926.37

Account Balance: $4338.11 (-$171.16, -3.8%)
True Balance once HMHC are removed: $4,148.11

Have a few more super low bids on a couple that most likely won’t hit, but figure I’ll keep em open just in case to bring the averages down further. Really, really gotta figure out my exits…I know TGT wasn’t expected to move the way it did, but those TGTs I sold for 2.76 (which was still great profit!) are now 12.00+. Could have almost doubled the entire account holding them one more day. A few others I were holding earlier ran really hard after selling too. That stings, but that’s the most coulda woulda shoulda I’ll do with that, I still doubled what I paid for em, can’t ask for much more on a trade. Just quite a feeling to see that kind of movement on something you had fantastic access to, they were 0.80-1.20 the day I averaged down…alright, stop thinking about it. Do need to work on those exit strategies though for sure.

Short term goal is to acquire an Amazon share before the split, with enough to continue trading alongside during the interim. Though, if things go bad, or just flat, I’m thinking it’d be worth taking a break for two weeks to come back to the split shares. Gonna really be looking into all that, need to continue building investments and safety nets in my portfolio vs. just all trading. I’ll probably begin entering more spreads etcs moving forward as well, even if I do limit upside a bit. I will not lose this money again making dumb ass choices. A whole lot more plays have been going profitable lately and a lot of that has to do with making use of averaging down and maintaining my entries, now I just need to learn when it’s right to cut at first sign of green and when it’s dumb. Lately I’ve been going with “Profit is profit”, which is true and would still be successful in the long run, but I want to absolutely min-max risk/profit where and whenever possible. Bit by bit, day by day…

[Labubs]

Oof, red day. These entries aren’t as exciting to write, huh? Well, I guess this is why I’ve been keeping BP at the ready…sold the bit of green that was in my list, holding some others, have a feeling I will be averaging a couple things over the day. #BA popped off, yet again off a higher point than I’d have expected and off of neutral/bearish news. Moving in tandem with other airlines and cruises (well, CCL at least, gonna check some other travel tickers on some more downtime). Been playing this for over a month now and I still scratch my head at the way this thing moves a lot of the time. There’s some aspect I’m overlooking, some variable that’s throwing this off. Determined to find it.

Sold:
1x BGFV 7/15 20c 1.75
1x THCA 4/14 15c 0.6

Not filled:
2x 4/14 SEAC 1c, ask 0.20. Cutting these today, just gonna try and get that extra 0.05 on them. If they dip to 0.15 that’s that

Bought:
2x BAC 5/20 40c 2.03
1x BAC 5/20 42c 1.09

Was listening to the VC discussion on banking and liked what I saw on the charts, despite pumping hard at open BAC is holding up at $40 pretty well. Probably a bit early to tell, but lookin alright so far. Consolidating up there currently, let’s hope we see another little jump in banks tomorrow.

Averaged down the NVDA calls, filled one at 1.30, one at 1.25, and one at 1.15. New average is 2.38 on 6 contracts. Over the weekend this just blew past the personal stop loss %s I’ve been trying to follow, but it’s also a fairly volatile ticker, $10 daily movements happen somewhat regularly…Fingers crossed on this one, but I’m hoping this is all an overreaction and we see these calls pop back up. Let’s hope this is just a fire sale and we see them back above 3.00 before the 22nd. That’s the other thing, we have an extra week on these, we just caught some bad news is all.

Still gotta figure out when to trust my gut and when I’m just being nervous. Almost all the second half of last week I was feeling like I should cash out and take a break for a couple days, but I brushed it off thinking I was just nervous…probably I was, but I’d still have been better off taking that break. Gonna have to learn how to do that, cause both the problem and the solution there is there’s always another play. On one hand, I don’t want to be using ‘taking a break’ as an excuse for being lazy, but on the other, sometimes shit’s just weird in the market and the best move for me is no move at all. Gotta keep feeling out this aspect of trading.

2:50

Didn’t do much today, added a put to the BAC position in case things go south, sold those UTAA shares, SEAC calls, and that last BEEM call, kept asking a few cents too high…today sucks, lots of red and trying to get out of (now) FDs. Tempted to buy a Boeing call, going off the chart another little run to 180 wouldn’t be out of the question, but I’m too unsure on sentiment around it. I don’t know, I also bought a damn bank at the top the day before CPI just cause I thought it sounded and looked good, I’m not really in the game today. Really hoping NVDA gets salvaged somehow, I really truly only meant to buy two, I had a ‘lowball’ hit Friday EoD that’s uncomfortably exposed me to one ticker. I wouldn’t be thinking of that if we were up 5% today instead of down, so I should probably keep that in mind. I’m mostly uncomfortable with the expiration I think, if these had til May 20 I wouldn’t be stressing as much. Hoping for insanely bullish news to accompy the share doubling request bullshit NVDA dropped Friday afternoon, like your chart’s primed for a bullish reversal over the weekend and you drop some vague news stirring up concerns of dilution, split, acquistion, what? The lack of details is annoying, and would have me furious if I was actually investing in this company vs. trying to ride calls…still believe in a comeback in the sector, so grabbed a 5-20 SOXL. That at least should be a good entry, starting the position today…hopefully a lot of these areas see comebacks, for a bunch of us. Keeping hopes high

Positions:
2x 4-14 MAPS 10c 0.19 (gonna expire worthless, can’t even get the penny for em)
6x 4-22 NVDA 250c 2.38 (come on NVDA, drop some news…better have a damn good reason for devaluing the stock like this. Hopefully so ‘they’ can load up cheap, but how about I don’t use speculative hopium for my trade choices in the future)
2x 5-20 BAC 40c 2.03
1x 5-20 BAC 39p 1.50
1x 5-20 BAC 42c 1.09
1x 5-20 CCL 20c 0.95
1x 5-20 SOXL 35c 1.25
6x 5-20 VYGG 10c 0.12 (these have not moved from 0.08 in about a week…average is 0.126, was hoping to at least get like a buck outta them, but probably not at this point)
1x 6-17 CCL 25c 0.34
4x 1-2023 SNDL 0.40

2x AMD shares 101.86

Account Balance: $3,491.38 (-$846.79, -19.52%…fuck.)
Actual Balance after HMHC removal: $3,301.38

Buying Power: $1,541.61

Tempted to buy some more puts or get into inversed ETFs to hedge some of these bleeding long positions, but that’s just looking to overtrade, and I don’t want to be going into tomorrow with too much of my account tied up in positions, I need to keep some of it as cash. Just trying to remind myself that sometimes you see serious red before green, I mean I had TGT calls at a 1.32 average, the initial one I bought for 2.00 something was looking really bad when I averaged down at 0.90, those ended up at 12.00+ end of that week (doubled my average on the sell, cannot complain, but damn if that doesn’t still sting a little, especially after a day like today)…I’m mostly disappointed that once again my account hits this seemingly cursed number and begins bleeding, that whole Amazon split share and beginning to wheel etc are in jeopardy again, so it’s gonna be a stressful week for me. Have to be careful not to overtrade or get too emotional.

[Labubs]

Starting this off for today, mostly selling and taking a step back a bit, gonna try and pretend I have less in my account than I do, see if I can get back into the mindset I was in at $1,600 before actually going there. Small consistent gains will win out. Being reminded sometimes you just gotta cut a trade that went bad, sometimes there’s just news or events you couldn’t possibly forsee.

Sold:
1x BAC 5-20 39p 1.40 (Got faked out on the initial morning pump and sold for a couple bucks loss thinking the calls were coming up, whoops)
2x NVDA 4/22 250c, 2x at 1.40, 2x at 1.35…held out for a minute after the challenge sells, decided slightly less loss was better than almost total loss. Do still have two that are hoping to see some positive action out of NVDA later today, but not looking great at the moment)
1x SOXL 5/20 35c 1.42 (spread was wide on these, kept trying to get filled at the mid from 1.65 down to 1.55, then said screw it and lowered it to the bid-mid mid)

Bought back into 2x SOXL 5/20 35c, 1.42 average (ironic), one at 1.5, one at 1.33. Spread’s tightened up a bit now, may look into adding another, but probably not. Feel like the entire market is full of fake-outs today, lots of things running to PM/previous highs and immediately dumping to previous lows or yesterday’s levels it seems.

Still working up the balls to play SPY, I’ve seen some of y’all be extremely successful with it, and I think I could be as well, but the extreme swings in those contracts give me entry anxiety…gonna have to work on that one, maybe dip my toes in a bit more than the one or two times I’ve played it before.

11:25
Have a bid in for the SOXL’s at 1.05 I kinda hope does not hit hah, but if it does, I’ve almost completely moved to May or further expiries, so I have some breathing room. Gonna monitor BAC a bit more, annoyed I got faked out with that put, now I’m only long…gonna try and start using simple spreads and other hedging techniques more often. Small and consistent, small and consistent. Averaged down NVDA with the challenge, not gonna lie, straight up following on that one at the moment, I’ve seen some amazing things pulled off by Conq with this kind of averaging down, and these contracts actually have some hope again. Bought one for 0.71, one for 0.74.

New NVDA position is 4x 4-22 250c, average at 1.56.

12:25
Doing some tax stuff I missed, totally not late at all with all that hah…not much else going on, a BEEM 5/20 30c filled at 2.20. Have a bid for the 5/20 50c at 0.70 that hasn’t hit yet. Today’s mostly about escaping April with what I can and maintaining/starting May positions, I’m starting to realize I really love monthly OpEx weeks, they (hopefully) will have your winning picks paying out, but almost more importantly, I get an extra three weeks breathing room on positions I roll out. The weight off the shoulders from that is telling of a few things probably, gonna have to get all introspective later and see where I’m stressing my self out and why

3:45:
Should be done for the day so writing this out now, averaged down that NVDA alongside the challenge to a point where one good pop (well, 222-226 for breaking even or seeing green) will allow me to get out even or even possibly green, really hoping everything gets a little push, as it’s all slowly bleeding or dying right now.

Open Positions:

7x NVDA 4/22 250c 1.15
1x BA 5/20 190c 4.25
2x BAC 5/20 40c 2.03
1x BAC 5/20 42c 0.74
1x BEEM 5/20 30c 2.20
1x BEEM 5/20 50c 0.50
1x CCL 5/20 20c 0.95
1x GD 5/20 250c 5.50
2x SOXL 5/20 35c 1.42
6x VYGG 5/20 10c 0.12
1x CCL 5/20 25c 0.34
4x SNDL 5/20 0.5c 0.26

2x AMD shares

Account Balance: $3,324.76 (-$167.02, -4.78%)

Buying Power: $498.56 (this is uncomfortable, hoping BA and/or GD have a nice green open I can sell into to get this back up where it should be with this many open positions)

True Account Balance after 4/14: $3,134.76 (Man, I swear $4k is a cursed balance for me, every time I hit it I bounce off…third time’s the charm hopefully, though that’s gonna take some work from here)

So yeah, another red day, ouch. Was slightly green til the second half of the day when SPY decided to take a shit…definitely feeling a little uncomfortable going into the evening, cause on one hand a few of these holdings are kinda gonna be get big or get wrecked, on the other I have til 5/20 on mostly everything, so I have a few weeks yet before holding through red turns from uncomfortable to stressful.
Damn banks taking a shit definitely hurt, really should have held that put a while longer (faked out on the opening pump) or gotten an equal number of puts to calls on this type of play, hindsight is 20/20 but taking on financial sector exposure day before CPI was more than a little gamble-y…He said as he put 30% into war plays off a tweet. Definitely a bit exposed there, really was gonna get one or the other, but the BA filled too before I could cancel it. Though so far that’s the green one, so hopefully it ends up being a happy accident, plus BA’s shown some nice movement from this 175-176 point in the very recent past. Hoping for a test of 180 this week. Should be able to sell this Pentagon news when more info comes out I’m thinking, and again, 5/20 expiry, so not sweating too much tonight aside from NVDA’s make or break day tomorrow. If it does go against us, damned if we didn’t try, some serious trimming and averaging today to bring that position back at the much lower average. I lost money today, but I’m calm and not feeling as worried/stressed as I expected, I’ve been saying I should follow my gut more, let’s see how the ol’ intuition is holding up these days.

Things can get really exciting or really shitty this week, prepare yourself for both. Oh yeah, and puts exist too, you kinda forgot that

[Labubs]

Alright, not a bad start to the day, especially as I was prepared for more red. Trimmed a bunch early today, I have some afternoon errands to run and didn’t want to be juggling too much with alerts, limits, and an earbud in listening to VC…I had also kind of overexposed myself to the Pentagon news, but that ended up working out…not really a sound strategy though lol.

So, sold BA for some nice profit, if not a bit early, I was expecting/planning for 180 so I sold within the first two candles. Too many days playing this and getting faked out on opening pumps, I was taking the green haha… eyeing 179.25-179.50 today for probable re-entry, it still has to fill a small gap to 182 on the daily. I cut BAC on the morning pop, the thesis/DD was sound but overall macro stuff messing up the whole sector. Sold GD with a very lucky fill, almost lost my lunch on that one.

Sold:

1x BA 5/20 190c 5.00
1x GD 5/20 250c 6.00
2x BAC 5/20 40c 1.20
1x BAC 5/20 42c 0.65

Following the challenge into VERU, even though it was buying into some serious green, I liked where the price was sitting on yesterday’s slight consolidation level, and the price was appealing too. So far so good there, hoping to see some highs retested.

Bought:
2x VERU 4/14 12.5c, one at 0.55, one at 0.45, average 0.50

I got lucky with the GD fill, that was towards the higher end of the ask at the time and it’s dropped back to yesterday’s close (lower now). Very thankful for that, that was about 5 minutes away from going very bad. Curious to see what’s causing that drop after a pretty strong open, gotta look around for more info on that Pentagon meeting.

Gotta run around this afternoon between noonish-2pm or so, a bunch of hurry up and wait type stuff, so I’ll still be on TF and at least listening to VC in an earbud, probably won’t get a chance to talk too much though. So, so close to NVDA breaking through and hitting my break even or at least a smaller loss, gimme a tiny run and rejection off 223 and I’d be super happy, but I’ll take 222 as well hah. Some real aggressive realizing losses then averaging down for this one, so to see it so close gives me hope…don’t get blinded by that though, if it loses 220 again probably time to cut the rest. The chart is looking good right now though, very cautiously optimistic on this today.

Look into playing AT&T’s (#t) ex-dividend date, looks like some downside on the way in the immediate future, gotta look at the chart more and build out some positions in optionstrat, but puts seem like they’d work out here at a glance.

11:42
Filled on those $T puts
1x 5/20 T 19p 0.51
1x 5/20 T 20p 1.08

(Community Callout post so it’s in here too when I come to look back over my trades/mindset)
[size=1]Took 5/20 $T 19 and 20 puts. A little risky, daily looks like it could have a green day tomorrow, but there is a pretty decent gap to fill from the day it jumped up off that Warner Media news. The following day (yesterday) threw up a hammer on the daily, and so far today’s red too. I think we see that 18.30 area touched again before more bullish movement upwards. There’s an ex-div coming up in May as well, I also took this position from playing the run up a few weeks back, I noticed there was typically a run up to ex-dividend dates with a downtrend coming in the couple weeks beforehand (should have kept playing that up trend actually)[/size]

3:00
Back around, got filled on two RTX calls for the Pentagon news. Played BA and GD off similar reasoning yesterday, but with RTX being the major producer of Stinger and Javelin missles, two weapons that have gotten a lot of attention in the headlines for this war, I’m thinking they’re the better pick. Much cheaper calls too, which is nice.

1x RTX 4/22 105c 0.88 (Sell the news.)
1x RTX 5/20 110c 1.07 (Maybe start an actual long postion off this?)

Now just waiting and praying for a good NVDA pop to get out of these calls with as little loss as possible. Even if it’s not looking good, it would have been looking a lot worse without averaging down, so damned if we didn’t try. I would need $227 to break even tomorrow vs. $225 today, so I think these are getting cut EoD regardless…really annoyed at that Friday announcement, especially now that the news seems to be turning around for NVDA, what a waste of some very precious days for these calls on a bunch of nothing-news.

EoD

Really needed that VERU run, wow! Sold out of those for very good profit, about 150%. 1.45 on one, 1.85 on the other, looks like it may continue running, but after that kind of pump and with that profit %, I wasn’t gonna risk overnighting them. Cut all NVDA, I do see the potential there for tomorrow, but I’m throwing in the towel on those and moving on. Still holding SOXL, so I am still adjacent to the play somewhat. Picked up one $T 20c as a mini hedge, leaning immediately bearish on that but keeping it far out and close to the money on this one, decided a call couldn’t hurt in case things go the other way. Plenty of time on most things now. Saw the challenge SPY buy, looked at optionstrat real fast, and decided the potential reward far outweighed the buy in price, big time. Here’s to another green day tomorrow!

Open Positions:

1x SPY 4/14 445c 0.85
1x RTX 4/22 105c 0.88
1x BEEM 5/20 30c 2.20 (missed a sell window on this, no biggie, 5/20)
1x BEEM 5/20 50c 0.70 (same here, both closed only -0.10 from averages, really hoping it climbs back further past $25)
1x CCL 5/20 20c 0.95
1x RTX 5/20 110c 1.07
2x SOXL 5/20 35c 1.42
1x T 5/20 19p 0.51
1x T 5/20 20c 0.39
1x T 5/20 20p 1.08
6x VYGG 5/20 10c 0.12 (should start just setting limits to sell these for like 0.05 every day, they do pop up to 0.08 here and there, wanna get some of that cash back where possible)
1x CCL 6/17 25c 0.34
4x SNDL 1/2023 0.5c 0.40
2x AMD shares at 101.86

Account Balance: $3,806.90 (+482.06, +14.5%)
Buying Power: $2,137.32
4/15 Account Balance (just take it out already so I can stop tracking this lol): $3,616.90

Man, that VERU run, I needed that today . Price target upgrade AH, so probably another one I sold a bit early, but I was not gonna overnight hold something up so much after taking some losses this week. Next time, maybe considering the first one sold covered cost with an extra 50% on top, I hold on the other and see? Could never have predicted a PT upgrade coming out right after close though, I think where I sold was a reasonable spot to think that run could top out at. Speaking of, looks like I also managed to actually sell the exact top of that GD call with a 6.00 limit, at least according to the daily highest sold price in RH…extremely grateful for that, it knifed pretty hard from there, and I almost put my limit in as the Ask at the time (6.20). Also sold BA a bit early again, 180 was my personal target of the day, thought it’d hit that and ping around 179-180 before going 182 tomorrow. It’s now filled that gap I was watching on the daily, so I’m gonna watch tomorrow as far as re-entry goes. Feeling really grateful and at peace today, slowly but surely I feel like things are clicking, I still have so much to learn and so far to go, but I’m really excited for it all.
Trying to be as cautious as possible while actively trading, I want to see 5 figures come up steadily over time, not through YOLOing everything I have into a ‘multi-bagger or nothing’ type play. I mean, I’m sure that would feel fucking amazing, but I know how the blow out feels too. So keeping it slow and steady and trying not to jump into too much risk. Easier said than done with the current state of things, which is why I decided not to enter back into too much today, especially considering the short week.

[Labubs]

Really not doing too much today going into the 3 day weekend, just maintaining the 5/20 positions and watching the market. Averaged down on SOXL a bit, probably will end up adding one or two more by EoD, but we’ll see. Down a bit on the week, NVDA, pre-earnings banking, and unrealized SOXL hurt currently, but still up nicely on the month, which is the more important goal for me to be meeting. My weekly goals are important, don’t get me wrong, but it’s how I close months that I’m gauging overall progress. Need to harden these hands on some plays, between TGT and now VERU I should have a whole lot more ending this week than I do. No one ever went broke taking profit though, so I’m more than happy with the returns from them.

This $T play kind of sucks, just pinned at an exact price where both my calls and puts are down between -$0.01-> -$0.10, but it was worth trying. I need to be able to pick my own plays using what I’ve learned from here, I’m getting better, but still a lot of work to be done on that front. Same as the account, slow and steady, bit by bit

Sold at open:
1x 4/14 SPY 445c 1.20
1x 4/22 RTX 105c 1.20
2x 1/2023 SNDL 0.5c 0.25 (trimming these out a little, will probably average back in some time, but maybe not. We’ll see, they’re LEAPs, and there’s more lucrative plays that cash could go towards)
3x VYGG 5/20 10c 0.05 (Same deal, just trimming some stuff out)

Bought:
2x SOXL 35c for 1.10, new average 1.26 (thinking 2 more averages are the most I’ll put into this relative to my port size, and not necessarily today. I do believe these will go green in time though, especially if I can get that average close to or under $1.00)

Slow day, red week, but I’m not feeling as discouraged about it as I have in the past. I think a lot of that has to do with variety in my holdings while also having a bit over half of the portfolio as cash gang today (kinda all week honestly), and I’m feeling like the plays I’m in will work out. Except $T, I’m not sure which direction to cut that today, do I lose the calls, puts, or just both…still watching for now. Really, really hoping SOXL ends up being an example of averaging down through red gone right (I think it will, the daily looks great, it’s due for big green…should see where big and/or smart money is going with that, hopefully the flows are bullish).

I think with the May 20 expiries, I have a good chance on all that I’m hoping for. Will keep watching things/TF/the forums for plays that catch my eye, but I think I’ll mostly be looking for news and other outside factors for the plays I’m in or considering entering. I may try to scalp SPY or something else by EoD too, we’ll see about that though.

EoD:

Ahh well what was a slightly red/flat day became pretty damn red because I decided to triple down on SPY FDs hoping to catch that inverse h&s/gamma bounce stuff. Went the exact opposite way, and once again did not follow my own advice, I haven’t hedged much at all. I really should have gotten a 445c and 430p, 435p, or 440p and cut the losing side instead of a 445c that I averaged down on the “bottom” of that right shoulder that broke down. Cut one, hate using a GFV on a loser, but 3 day weekend, and I didn’t want that much risk, basically paid 30 bucks to lower my average ~0.40. It’s fine, I think I’m setting up for a pretty decent May, we’ll see how everything pans out. Started the ZIM position off the analyst news, shipping getting a nice bump overall today, and some nice TF chatter going on (thank you Brummel and Ni, you guys laid out all the pros and risks on this in like 3 minutes haha.) I plan to build out that postion a bit from here, probably scaling forward towards June and July a bit.

Open Positions:
1x SPY 4/22 450c 0.70 (guh)
1x SPY 4/22 445c 2.12 (GUH. Especially as this average was achieved with another buy and a GFV sell at a loss. Holding 2 of these was too much risk for me, I really shouldn’t have gotten them in the first place. Trading to trade, stupid)
1x BEEM 5/20 30c 2.20
1x BEEM 5/20 50c 0.70
1x CCL 5/20 20c 0.95
1x RTX 5/20 110c 1.07
5x SOXL 5/20 35c 1.19 (Kinda blew my load early on the average downs…still have tolerance for one or two more averages on this, I have big faith this will push back up in time for good profit)
1x T 5/20 19p 0.51
1x T 5/20 20c 0.39
1x T 5/20 20p 1.08
3x VYGG 5/20 10c 0.12
1x ZIM 5/20 60c 2.90
1x ZIM 5/20 70c 1.05
1x CCL 6/17 25c 0.32
2x SNDL 1/2023 0.5c 0.40
2x AMD shares

Account Balance: $3,527.28 (-$279.47, -7.34%. Shit. Just had to gamble, huh?)
Actual Account Balance for the last fucking time: $3,337.28
Buying Power: $1,409.22

AT&T ($T) stayed in the exact price range where this little bear spread I made neither gained nor lost much value. Seems I may have guessed what would happen wrong, the Warner Media stuff is propping $T up enough that a more call-heavy strategy would have made sense. I thought I’d spotted bear trends around past dividend dates, though not all and not always strong. I was really kind of hoping for a $T sell-off into the new ticker the dividend paid, but I suppose maybe this is some boomer shit?

Oh well, hindsight is 20/20, especially staring at it in your port; plus they all have til May and are close to the money, I should be able to at least cut these, and maybe even with a bit of green on em. Hopefully today wasn’t the last chance to do that, might have been for those puts, but we will see what next week brings. Waste of time and the tie up of capital more than anything. Still, it was good practice for future DD.

This journal stuff is good, I’m glad I finally started it. It really helps even just typing out my thoughts as they come, but also to go back and see where I did things right and wrong. Typing is also much better than freehand for this. This practice should pay off well in the long term, I do feel like I am already growing as a trader from it. Really gotta thank @thots_and_prayers for chancala-ing everyone into doing these, you were absolutely right about the benefits of all this! Thank you, and everyone else who encouraged journaling

I don’t know if people actually read these, but if you are, I hope you’re having a great weekend! This week…wasn’t great, true, but we’ll all have the clutter out of our ports come Monday and be ready to go to the next one. There is so much going on right now that I/we should not have missed out on, or played better. (Looking at you shipping, fertilizers and most of the other commodities that we chat about in VC but forget to y’know, acutally buy?..also can’t stop looking at that TGT, bought some around 0.80 or 0.90, could have loaded up, but sold the two I had for around $200 when they went to $1200 each like the next damn day, can’t ever complain about +100%, same with VERU, that was a quick and easy intraday 150%er, but it could have been a 500+%er. Had two of each, one sell of each covered cost plus profit, that’s when you let the last ones rides dummy, and you took GFVs for both…of all the times to not be stuck without any left for a few days…ah fuck this line of thought, all this means is you’re getting closer and closer to the right picks…

I just need to learn exits better, I swear to god $20 of green makes me more anxious than $50 of red, it’s insane that that’s the natural feeling. It’s cause the red is ‘already gone’, but the green 'is there but could dump in any red candle, man, I better sell immediately!" . I need to get over that, like now…so much of this is psychology, and that I can do. People are generally predictable (I don’t really mean individuals, but group reactions).

If I squint and tilt my head, I think I’m beginning to see it all, but I also see how much more I have to learn. I’ll never be the master of everything, so I’m looking for my niche, trying to figure out what type of play I will be able to successfully call out. BA’s been working, but chaotic. When I get to the point where I’m selling contracts, that’ll be a whole new venture as well.

The point of that is just more appreciation for all of this. Being able to talk with y’all all day, everyone combining their knowledge for the better of all, communities like this are preciously rare, and this is by far the tightest group I’ve ever been in. I said it before, that although some of us may have had a rough week, there’s always the next play.

Let’s keep ourselves afloat and move into the Spring/Summer plays, and (unfortunately) war-adjacent plays. Definitely gonna keep going more carefully, I could have YOLOd into TGT and VERU and hit my 5 figure goal this past week, but then what? Probably lose it all cause I didn’t learn enough on the way up to it. I’m setting myself a personal goal I hope to surpass, I want to see 12.5k in my account by July. Big big month for me and my family, so having the ability to give them all they deserve and more will be incredible. Plus I want to be a ten-thousand-aire by the time I turn 32, I know I can do it, I will break through this cursed 4k barrier haha. Alright, if you made it this far, I probably love you, and thank you!

Also, y’all, if you do read these: don’t hesitate to call me retarded on an entry or point out something I may be missing on something I’m gonna cut, I need me some of that constructive criticism haha…not asking for hand holding, just education (Then again, just talking in VC with Beaker, Jekyll, Isaiah, Dook, NaCly and the rest is already great for that . Speaking of, thank you again for that BTC chart Jekyll, it probably saved me from a loss on miners). don’t mind if it’s here in the thread, through DM, on TF, in VC, I’m around during the day a lot more now. I can take it, don’t worry about hurting my feelings haha.
I figure sometimes we all need that second or fifth opinion on something, and I literally could not tell you a better place for good opinions than here. Yeah, I lost a good amount of money today and this week, but I’m up on the month (my main gauge of success), and those SPY FDs are probably screwed unless SPY decides to open like 6 bucks higher hah, but it seems everyone is banding together to make this week amazing. Let’s do that

[Labubs]

Ehh not the greatest day, did enter and exit some things, mainly trying to trim down my portfolio but seeing some news articles/tweets/chatter on TF had me looking at entries for some things in travel and pharma. Was too quick on entering BA…getting annoyed at this point with how it moves, I almost want to inverse it but the second you start even thinking about it it rips. Just once I’d like it to climb past PM high on bullish news, not dump a few dollars…lots of SPY bullshit affecting everything though, and at least it’s pulling things back up now…but what’s even causing this EoD run, and we got fed talks at close…nervous about all that.

Sold:
1x SPY 4/22 445c 0.80 (paperhanded, though who could have seen the EoD runup coming…)

1x SPY 4/22 450c 0.40 (same as above. These were fucking stupid to get into, I was trading just to trade something)

4x VYGG 5/20 10c 0.05 (trimming stuff that’s not moving out of the port, that $10 is better off as BP…can always buy them back if something starts happening, but I haven’t even heard anyone talking about the OnlyFans SPAC thing anymore)

1x RTX 5/20 110c 1.20 (sold the other for the same price on Friday, didn’t like the intraday swinging this was doing and haven’t heard too much about them since that White House rumor meeting. Another I’d buy back if rumors began circulating again)

4x SOXL 5/20 35c, two for 0.8, two for 0.95 (at loss, all except RTX were today, as for SOXL it’s running now, got spooked by the midday SPY drag down and trimmed maybe too aggressively on the big green candle there…thought it would be rejected down and my average was 1.19. I sorta planned on re-entering for a better average, but travel and pharma talk got my eye, I think those could be better plays short term, and I can re-enter SOXL if the chance is there)

1x ZIM 5/20 70c 1.15 (Kept the 60c, sold this one when it had some green. Only $10, but I like the way the 60c was moving with the underlying a little better and wanted to trim one or the other)

1 AMD share, kept the other…they’re shares, could have held til green, but alot of today was for trimming extras, though I added (maybe a bit too much) positions today too.

1x T 5/20 19p 0.40 (Slight loss, house cleaning here. $T is just stuck in a spot where neither the calls nor puts I bought were profitable. Bad spread on my part)

1x T 5/20 20c 0.34 (see above)

Bought:

1x 5/20 GLD 190c 2.20 (Grabbed this as SPY was dying in case we keep seeing red…will probably keep and average this position out, GLD has worked for me in the past when the market wasn’t teetering on the edge of imminent ruin)

2x 5/20 JETS 22c 0.835 (Set two limits that hit, a lot of you were cutting when that second limit hit. Probably gonna end up having been the smart move, but I also have some faith in the loosened mask guidelines and the first year of “normal vacations” boosting numbers)

1x 4/29 BA 185c 4.50 (I really blew my load early on this one. Big time, there were far better entries during the day, to the point I almost averaged this down a bit. Far better strikes to have picked for an open where I was kind of planning to average up or down depending on PA. Like either of the following…)

2x BA 5/20 200c 2.45 (2.45 is the average, I bought one of these around the 10:20 “recovery”, like less than 10 mins away from that peak…the other I bought at(No I didn’t, this did not fill. I only bought at 9:35 and 10:10’s “bullish reversal”…ugh). Kills me that I called out almost the perfect double bottom on TF but not the thread which I feel shitty about, I totally called out the wrong entry. I’m sorry guys, the charts were pointing bullish, then I was discouarged and didn’t want to lose anyone money on a bad call. It certainly woulda been nice to have grabbed that 4/29 there too, and I was very tempted to try and average that one too, but I figured I already have a big chunk of this in my port and that 4/29 needs BA to see 185 this week. That’s very possible, but if I was gonna be putting more money down, it was gonna be the one a month from now. Hopefully, there was someone who saw that bottom or my unsure TF comment and bought, should be up pretty nicely if so. I called that out on TF but not the thread as I thought it would continue breaking down alongside SPY, and I already had one bad BA call out in there today so by the time I was confident in it, the trend was already up. I think everyone who was trading today was on the floor anyway, seems like lots of people followed Conq into taking a break…not the worst idea this week tbh. This ticker just loves to mess around with PM gains/losses and giving them up/gaining them back, and also seems to like inversing news, though today would have been extremely bullish if not for SPY in my opinion. The PM high and inital open pump were matching up with the two bullish predictions I made for fun last night, though intraday we rode both the bottoms…closed right on the orange one which was the purely technical/most likely, I gotta learn to take my own advice)

1x ATER 4/22 6p 0.56 (This was just for fun with money that can be burned, was hoping ATER drilled back towards the bottom of that peak…got tomorrow still, it ran very hot today, so hoping to see a pullback at some point for that sweet sweet $5)

1x PFE 5/20 55c 0.75 (Came from TF jokes, and a quick look at the news to make sure nothing bearish looming lol. Mask mandates and higher vaccinated, lower new vaccines could be bad, but PFE seemed to be doing well enough. Then some good news came out right at 4, hoping for a bit of a gap up off that one, though if not, this was a call I don’t mind managing for a bit)

Open Positions:

1x 4/22 ATER 6p 0.56

2x 4/29 BA 185c2x 5/20 BA 200c 2.45

1x BEEM 30c 2.20

1x BEEM 50c 0.70 (both of these were basically at my average at open, or single digit dollar loss at least…these were fuckin killing me today, what the hell was that?! Pumping IV before the real thing? I sure hope so, cause this shit went from break even to down a hundred plus)

1x CCL 5/20 20c 0.95

1x GLD 5/20 190c 2.20 (grabbed this as SPY was shitting itself as a hedge of sorts, oof lol. It’s alright, unfortunately, we’re probably in for more red before OpEx, I’ll sell this on a SPY dip)

2x JETS 5/20 22c 0.83 (my port is a bit travel heavy, but I am bullish this month on that sector. The world being shitty at the moment could hurt this, but gimme some of that TGT/WMT energy over in these tickers)

1x PFE 5/20 55c 0.72

1x SOXL 35c 1.19 (sold a bunch of these today with the plan to buy back a few and get that average low. I probably could have gotten it under 0.90 on dips today and been at breakeven or a few bucks profitable right now, and maybe I probably should have instead of going all varied on a bunch of stuff. We will see what happens…)

1x ZIM 60c 2.90 (whew, too bad I cut the others, this closed at 3.45…nice to see some green, I held because I’m betting on the tiny gap to 57.75 being filled. It’s almost there in AH, which is actually worrying a bit, but so long as it holds for 5 mins tomorrow morning… please lol, at least open above 57)

1x 6/17 CCL 25c 0.34

1x 6/17 JETS 21.68c 1.20

2x 1/2023 SNDL 0.5c 0.34

Account Balance
$3091.15 (-$226.44, -6.88%…shit, again. I’m broke by the end of the week at this rate)
Buying Power- $811.00

So that’s it, I tried a different format today, putting my thoughts behind each position. Will keep messing around with this, but the journal really is great. It helped me remember what I was hoping for last week with my postions today, and helped me make some decisions. I’m actually pretty amazed at how right I was in being wrong about BA, last night I drew out some potential price actions and called out one of the bullish patterns, intraday it goes and hits the two extreme bear patterns and ends up exactly on the technical/most likely line I originally called out. Oh well, if nothing else, the news and extended hours actions had me brushing up on charting.

If it follows the peaks and valleys exactly (very unlikely), that means 176.50 tomorrow before going and fighting for 180. I really don’t like that we closed below 180 by 15 cents, I feel like that will set some bots or whatever off in the wrong direction. If it does dip to 175 on SPY correlation I’ll load up what I can near 175, as this does respect peaks and valleys, so a retest of 185 before May is likely, but not 100%. News also moves this somewhat dramatically (in freakin AH or PM though), so that’s another thing to look out for. I got these because I think China’s gonna call human error or suicide.

BEEM hurt, though IV got ramped up and it’s moving a lot compared to underlying. Still holding out hope there, if it does run, extra holy shit now…hoping this was “they” seeing the inevitable situation and loading up.
Anxious about May, I want to get a share of Amazon for the split, but once again I am fighting the cursed 4k account balance. Really hoping these are positions that are set for good profit in the coming weeks, I think they are, but this market has me second-guessing myself. I’m gonna have to be real careful of emotions as we get closer to the deadline too. I can make it, I know for sure I can be successful in this with enough time. I got this, when I truly set my mind to something I succeed in it. Stock market, my mind is set on you. I will break you. /ivandrago

Hey idiot, when you read this tomorrow, don’t forget the AAL puts you were gonna get Thursday. Looks like it’s also giving another day for entry into them, but that gap to 17 should get filled

[Labubs]

Alrighty, today was good, that SPY runup helped a lot of the plays I was in. I was out late with a buddy and actually slept through my alarm today, which looking at charts, actually made me more profitable, I’d probably have sold my BA at the 10:30 drop and run back up. ZIM too, though it didn’t actually get back to the 10am spike, though that was still an immensely profitable trade. JETS was more profitable too. Point is I’ve been taking profits when I see them, but maybe too hard? A lot of times lately it feels like I’d have been better off letting things breathe a bit. Probably from the further out expiries, but yeah, I gotta figure that out soon. Made a risky decision at close buying a QQQ call and only 4/29 at that, I was up 21% today, just the AH drop on QQQ wipes out 3/4 of that gain, though there’s support at 340-342 (where it fell to) and it’s due for much more green on the daily. May just average that down, definitely would if it was further out, I just need to decide whether I think a gap fill to 348-350 happens this week or next. But it does have those two gaps above it on the daily, here’s hoping SPY recovers and some of it’s other holdings do well.

Sold
1x ATER 4/22 6p 0.66 (Held this a little longer than I should’ve, but this was totally from joking around in VC yesterday, the fact it paid at all is amazing)
2x JETS 5/20 22c 1.05 1.08
1x JETS 5/20 21.86c 1.54
1x CCL 5/20 20c 1.20
1x ZIM 5/20 60c 4.80
1x ZIM 5.20 70c 1.15
1x BA 4/29 185c 6.70
2x BA 5/20 200c 3.70 3.30 (I figured costs were fairly covered on BA and it was holding a profitable range above morning spike and consolidation, so I’d let one run for the day, sold the one for 3.30 at market close)
1x SOXL 5/20 35c 1.20 (too bad I sold the other 3 yesterday, coulda gotten out totally even, maybe even with $4…oh well, took the dollar on this tand leaving the ticker alone for now)

Bought
1x BEEM 5/20 30c 0.95 (figure I’d average down a little, give it a bit more for the thesis to play out. Had lower orders in for more EoD that didn’t fill)
1x PFE 5/20 55c 0.39 (more average down)
1x QQQ 4/29 348c 5.22 (Well Netflix wiped out around 200 bucks of value at market close before IV, probably gonna average this one down tomorrow as I believe in gap fills and there are two on the daily currently, though this strike has to go before Friday)
1x USO 5/20 80c 3.00
1x GLD 5/20 190c 1.25 (these two are some SPY hedges that have worked for me in the past, we’ll see how these do. May take some maintaining, but 5/20, so that’s okay)

Open Positions

1x QQQ 4/29 348c 5.22
2x BEEM 5/20 30c 1.58
1x BEEM 5/20 50c 0.70
2x GLD 5/20 190c 1.72
2x PFE 5/20 55c 0.57
1x USO 5/20 80c 3.00
1x CCL 6/17 25c 0.34
2x SNDL 1/2023 0.5c 0.40
1x AMD share 101.86 (forgot to add this yesterday and today)

Account Balance
$3,746.94 (+$646.84, +21.25%)
Buying Power- $2,252.80

So yeah, today was really just locking in profit and maintence. Only took some GLD and USO for 5/20, as I think the market gets reminded of war, inflation, recession, etc again before that, and they’re historical hedges…the USO maybe not as much, but I still think that’s gonna come back up. The QQQ…ugh, Netflix. Should have considered that a bit more before going in. I got too distracted looking at the bullish chart patterns. Big reminder to self that I’ve been relying on technicals maybe a little too much, especially in non-ordinary times. I may do some maintence on this position tomorrow as it does have some very big potential. I have maybe one average down in me for this postions, will have to keep up with some of it’s other holdings and SPY tomorrow, I think this is a bit of an overreaction to be honest. Then again, maybe so was today? (to the bull side) We’ll see tomorrow, fingers crossed Wall Street’s coke dealer has the good shit in this week haha

[Labubs]

Starting this early cause I should be done for the day, have a few low ball bids sitting that I could go either way with, if they fill, they fill. Slightly red today when I should have broken the cursed $4k with that NFLX scalp, but I’d rather be setting myself up for sucess down the line than just jumping onto trends and hoping to make a few hundred in a minute. Do wish I was able to sell when it was really up, I’d have walked away for the day after something like that. Oh well. Most of my port is cash, followed by 5/20s, so I gotta learn to stop trading like every day is 1dte. Definitely eye opening to some parts of my own psychology that I need to be aware of. Slightly red today, but that was a little expected, I don’t expect some of these positions to fully marinate for a little bit. Averaged those down. Had a NFLX put I bought near the bottom that was up like $400 almost instantly, should have sold it immediately, ended up with $15 profit on that. Never again lol, that was definitely pure FOMO and idle hands, I did not wake up today thinking of scalping NFLX puts, that came with seeing how ridiculously profitable they were, but I thought I knew better than to jump onto something already running. I think there was some TGT and SPY call PTSD going on there, you know, “If I’d smashed the ask then, I’d have brought home multibaggers, so lemme do that now”. I was trying to break $4k on the account in one go and that froze my hands on the sell button despite seeing so much gain in so little time (watched it evaporate just as quick too though)…also led to some thoughts on me still being on Robinhood and PDT. I’ve been kind of nervous of switching to cash because I blew out a BS meme daytrade WeBull account not being able to average down, but on the other hand those were memes I bought at a dumb ass time, and I’m gonna have to get used to cash settling and the actual UIs sooner than later. Had a good tax return, maybe I’ll use some of that as a buffer for the transfer. In any case, I have a few things to think over.

Sold
1x QQQ 4/29 348c 5.50
1x USO 5/20 80c 3.30

Scalped
1x NFLX 4/22 210p 5.70->5.85 (goddamit…this was up to like 10 at one point, but I bought way too late. I just watched value melt as I kept lowering my ask, to the point where I saw it go from 8.00 to 6.00 and I said fuck this, I’m not losing money, and set the bid for 5.85. I mishandled this one terribly, and was something I should not have been in in the first place)

1x SPY 4/22 450c 0.80->1.00 (see NFLX)

Bought
2x CEI 4/29 2c 0.15
2x CEI 4/29 1p 0.16 (grabbed these as an experiment and cause they were cheap, but I should have gone further out for what I’m trying to see happen with these. Will cut the puts most likely and retry the spreads on a more appropriate play)
1x CCL 6/27 25c 0.28 (average down/maintenence)
1x PFE 5/20 55c 0.28 (same as above)
1x GLD 5/20 190c 1.11 (same)
2x ESSC 5/20 10c 1.02 (I know…)
2x ESSC 5.20 12.5c 0.37 (I KNOW I KNOW)
1x BA 4/29 185c 5.50 (Could have gotten a better fill, SPY really dragged this down EoD after some bullish news. Looking for BA to test 185 again, or ideally a nice push towards 190. It’s in one of those weird zones where it’s gonna be 180 or 190 tomorrow)
1x BA 4/29 200c 1.05

Open Positions
1x BA 4/29 185c 5.50
1x BA 4/20 200c 1.05 (These BA buys were also…not quite FOMO, but feeling like I needed to buy something at close. Again, today would have been perfect for touching and smoking some grass)
2x CEI 4/29 2c 0.05
2x CEI 4/29 1p 0.15
2x BEEM 5/20 30c 1.58 (these are going soon I think. Lost $40 in value per contract today, and it’s just been dragging my port down…was holding out for a squeeze, but it’s under $20 now. Plenty of time, but I think it’s goodbye, little one…)
1x BEEM 5/20 50c 0.70 (can’t sell these if you wanted to at this point, 0.01)
2x ESSC 5/20 10c 1.02
2x ESSC 5/20 12.5c 0.37 (With this goddamn ticker getting some traction, I’m looking for a sentiment bump to 11.50)
3x GLD 5/20 190c 1.52
3x PFE 5/20 55c 0.47
2x CCL 6/17 25c 0.31
2x SNDL 1/2023 0.5c 0.40
1 share of AMD 101.86

Account Balance
$3,668.91 (-$78.99, -2.11%)
Buying Power- $2,024.72

So yeah, today was really a mix between averaging some of my spring into summer positions and being dumb. I did learn my brain has a tough time just…doing nothing. That will be valuable to know going forward, if I don’t figure out my weaknesses now, I’ll end up blowing myself out (again). I should have been in and out of NFLX and up about $400, but I entered a minute or two too late, purely FOMO from seeing it continue to drill and contract prices just flying up. Got to watch them fly down as I held it. Same with ESSC, I’ve known the thesis there much too long, but if I wanted to play this current batch why not earlier? All I’d planned to do today was maintain open positions and keep mostly cash gang. I still succeeded in that, but possibly at the cost of my RH account…which honestly, I need to switch to cash anyway. If I really want to do this big time, it’s gonna take more than an app and a laptop. I need to work harder, switch myself to a proper broker/account, and maybe upgrade some things rig wise once I reach a comfortable number in my account.

Big things to take away from today, stick to you plans, curb the FOMO, and beware of boredom. Should have been a 1 hour day up a couple hundred, instead you fought to keep red from going over $100. I do still think the spring and summer positions are set to pay off, so I keep lowering average on those when I can, but I gotta figure out some opportunity cost stuff with my account. I have a lot of fear still about crashing back down to the $1k range, it was so hard to climb out of that, so I’ve been keeping a large % of my account as BP hoping to just maintain…I do need to shake some of that off and get back to the small but steady gain mindset. As everyone else is, gonna go Thots style and see if I can pull off just 2% a day, I’d be doing a shitload better than I am if I made 2% a day on the account every day this year so far. Just don’t know why I can’t seem to break out of this range, it’s gotta be something psychological at this point. I’m absolutely certain I will get through $4k to $5k and this stupid mental barrier will be broken, but damn, I’m ready to stop fighting this goddamn range already.

Carvana puts at open may do it…

[Labubs]

Gonna take a quick day today and not chase, made 6% at open, that’s fantastic, and history shows if I sit here glued to charts I’ll more likely lose it feeling like I need to enter something. Have an order to roll out the CEI calls to 5/20, and I’ll pop over to check charts here and there, but for the most part I’m gonna be cash til after fed stuff and when I decide what exactly it is I want to be playing. Airlines had a nice bump this morning thankfully, will keep watching that sector as well.

Sold
1x BA 4/29 185c 7.50
1x BA 4/20 200c 1.65
2x ESSC 5/20 12.5c 0.40
2x ESSC 5/20 10c 1.10
2x BEEM 5.20 30c, one at 0.25, one at 0.15

I have orders in to sell the 6/17 CCL at 0.40 and roll out the 2x CEI 4/29 2c to 5/20 if the 5/20s fill at 0.07. May also cut the PFE, though they have til 5/20, so we’ll see

Bought
Nothing so far, no real plans to…may throw an average in to GLD again, but I’ll also probably wait a day or two there. I’ll monitor potential entries through alerts.

Open Postions
2x CEI 4/29 2c 0.05 (have an order to roll these out to 5/20)
2x CEI 4/29 1p 0.15 (Sell order for 0.16, was gonna try something out with these, not the best ticker/strike/date/play for it though)
1x BEEM 5/20 50c 0.7
3x GLD 5/20 190c 1.52
3x PFE 5/20 55c 0.47
2x CCL 6/17 25c 0.31 (Limit set to sell at 0.40)
2x SNDL 1/2023 0.5c 0.40
2x SOXL 30c 2.60

Account Balance- Will update EoD, but $3,875.82 (+$207.13, +5.65%) at 10:30
Buying Power- $3,274.58

$3,734 (+$65.74, +1.79%)
Buying Power $2850.48

EoD quite a bit less but still green, started a May SOXL 30c position, didn’t think it’d stay above 28.50 for too long, whoops…was gonna average that down towards 4pm, but don’t want to sink too much too fast into it, these should be profitable but I’m gonna see if it dips towards $26 tomorrow for one then wait and see if $25 gets tested or not for the other I plan to buy for this trade, I’m thinking SOXL shouldn’t see too much lower or else I’d think about cutting, I don’t think I want to play with rising this 22.50/20, and would break what I hope to see from this, it’s in a general downtrend but shouldn’t flat out die, there’s a peak that (should) be respected and made soonish for it. Definitely could waited til EoD though. Also just cut the AMD share, it was really breaking down so I figured if nothing else I’d wait til it found a bottom and buy it back, but I wasn’t too attached to it at the moment, and I’ve been kind of trying to slowly build out a few plays over the next week or two instead of being super all over, being in too little was too much risk, but being in too much is hectic compared to the gains made, so looking for the middle there at the moment. Even with a less than ideal start to SOXL, it was good to take the day and recharge. Tomorrow I’ll be entry hunting and looking for news and reactions to it

Initiated a $1k deposit into WeBull, had a nice tax return so I’m using that as a buffer between Robinhood and new brokers. Gonna see if the Webull day trade glitch still works (it has been in that account, but that account has also been beat down, we’ll see once there’s real activity in it). If infinite day trade does still work, I’ll probably be moving to TD for shares+options, I really, really liked the price ladder for options on Conq’s stream. So yeah, just a bit of housekeeping for a week or two. Still gonna enter high conviction stuff, will keep an ear in VC and be in and out of it and TF, but yeah, not too much more activity this week. Good luck to everyone else, hope y’all print!

[MENoir]

Good stuff dude. I understand the struggle of wanting to roll those gains straight to new plays.

[Labubs]

Yeahh it’s been an issue, I’ve definitely been overplaying just to play…I had no plans to enter ESSC yesterday and no real reason to, I just wanted in on something, and I was justifying that this time reddit will pump it…not the greatest reason to jump into something to say the least lol. Got some things I could be doing today anyway, might as well take the opportunity and reset a little

[Labubs]

Didn’t do much of anything today except check in on the bleed, wasn’t expecting things to be this red today and bad day for it…ah well next week I’ll keep going forward. Waiting for the WeBull deposit from the other day to settle and hope the glitch is still going for the account there, they let me blow up like $500 on memes so hopefully they don’t give me shit now, if not/anyway I am more than likely gonna also start pulling out of RH and into TD, I need to be able to buy and sell same day big time and I loved that whole UI having price ladder/charts/news together. It’ll be an adjustment, but also a huge efficiency boost I think. I was only half into everything today and really should have probably called it a weekend (yesterday, when I said…)was going back and forth on things or missing entries for a few things so I’d walk/look away, then come back to have missed some more and let myself get annoyed, but I wouldn’t have missed em if I hadn’t been like ‘Fuck this I said I was just gonna average and watch one thing’ and not watched for the opportunities that did come from both. Goes to show I gotta either be playing fully or not, I definitely went into today with an expectation of maintaining a bleed vs. active trading and that’s what happened, except I let myself get annoyed on top which was just dumb. Although, I definitely wasn’t hoping for SOXL to fall as much as it did, and I’m definitely nervous now that we lost $25. I averaged it down one time then stupidly got caught by the bull flag for a second one because it had come off a bounce on a trend line I had drawn, so I’m gonna have to make a choice on those. Current average needs it to recapture $27 to $28+ by next Friday, though that looked a lot more feasable above $25, was really hoping that tiny 3pm runoff held, but last half hour just drained again…we’ll see how it looks next week. Otherwise grabbed a couple challenge play MXs though way later, didn’t do much else today (maybe should have cut PFE, but it hasn’t quite fallen through everything recent, so I’ll see what happens with that this week). Took $40 I was literally go gamble with and instead bought SPY 380p and 450c for this week, if SPY keeps dying gonna cut the green on the put when I see it but that was dumb to get, big ER this week will hopefully make that call green. GLD I’ll keep watching for another day or two, really all depends on the market next week. Have a good weekend everyone, I’ll be in and out off TF though

Bought
2x SOXL 5/20 30c 1.70 1.35
2x MX 17.5c 0.44

Sold
2x 4/29 CEI 1p 0.19

Open Positions

2x CEI 4/29 2c 0.05
1x BEEM 5/20 50c 0.7
3x GLD 5/20 190c 1.52
3x PFE 5/20 55c 0.47
2x CCL 6/17 25c 0.31 (Limit set to sell at 0.40)
2x SNDL 1/2023 0.5c 0.40
4x SOXL 30c 2.07
1x SPY 380p 4/29 0.19
1x SPY 4/29 450c 0.20

Acoount Balance $3,480.44 (-$254.04, -6.8%, +6.55% for the week though)
Buying Power $2,453.44

[Labubs]

Rough couple of days, that SOXL and GLD were and are bleeding me out slowly. Cut half the SOXL close to open (before that little pump though ). Bought one GLD trying to bring the average down, playing around with different scenarios on OptionStrat has me considering cutting those tomorrow vs. continuing to average down even harder, I bought these hoping people would park some money in GLD in between all the big earnings and market uncertainty. I’m gonna have to look into where I went wrong with that reasoning, ticker, etc or if the market is just so bad right now that GLD can’t help but fall too. Another big reminder to self to really dig into these commodity ETFs (thought I learned this lesson) and see how and where the correlations lay, this half baked “gold as safe haven” thought last week cost me a shitload of money (% of port wise). Grabbed a SPY put for Friday, still holding the one I bought…really looking forward to the cash account settling so I can scalp, following along as others play SPY has been super helpful on brushing up on TA and everything.’

Speaking of, honestly deferring to the more experienced members’ plays this week what with so many potential market-wide catalysts floating around, so far I’m mostly following challenge plays (caught COST this time, a little nervous on 560 holding as support after so much red, but if it falls through, it looks like it’ll really fall through), and also starting on a May ZIM postion (will be looking into Junes as well) with very low bids in on IMPP also, though those probably won’t fill looks like. Grabbed two of the TWTR 53c from the challenge, but I don’t know what’s gonna happen with it between Elon’s stuff and ER with it so I also picked up two 42p, they were very cheap so the gain from the calls should more than make up for those even if they expire worthless (so far, they already have hah)…I want to try and do this with more positions going forward, especially when things are looking uncertain or bearish, I haven’t been hedging nearly enough (or doing it wrong when I do), just more things for me to look into, more/better hedging strategies.
Debating just closing out most things this week to still be able to pick up that share of Amazon to hold through the split; do my options trading mainly on the WeBull cash account and just run shares and other similar passive stuff on the RH account, though I do want to begin scaling cash out of that and into probably TD, gonna play around with their platform a bit and make sure I can effectively trade on the hardware I have. Just need to decide on that before or after ER, share price is kinda at a discount right now, ER gonna either sink it a bit further or leave a nice entry behind…doing that this early will lock up a significant amount of my overall BP/port, but that might not be the worst thing for a little while. Hopefully these open positons work out and help patch up the SOXL/GLD slice out this past week.

Sold

2x SOXL 5/20 30c 1.10 (riiight before they shot up, that’s what I get for selling at 10:20 and not waiting 25 mins to see if a direction was chosen)
1x PFE 5/20 55c 0.15
1x SPY 4/29 450c 0.07

Bought
1x SPY 4/29 400p 1.00
2x TWTR 4/29 53c 0.85
2x TWTR 4/29 42p 0.165
1x COST 5/20 560p 7.95
1x ZIM 5/20 55c 2.50
1x GLD 5/20 190c 0.45 (averaging down, was trying to get it under 1.00 average, but don’t want to sink too much cash into this. Probably the last I add to this)

Open Positions
2x CEI 4/29 2c 0.05
1x SPY 4/29 380p 0.19
2x SPY 4/29 400p 1.00 0.67
3x TWTR 4/29 53c 0.85 0.70
2x TWTR 4/29 42p 0.165
1x BEEM 5/20 50c 0.70
2x COST 5/20 530p 7.95
4x GLD 5/20 190c 1.25
2x MX 5/20 17.5c 0.44
2x PFE 5/20 55c 0.4733 (was gonna buy one more to bring that average down a bit, still deciding on that)
2x SOXL 5/20 30c 2.07
1x ZIM 5/20 55c 2.50
2x CCL 6/17 25c 0.31
2x SNDL 1/2023 0.40

Account Balance- Don’t wanna talk about it lol, down another 5% so far today…will update EoD when it settles $3,010.36 (-$470.08, -13.5%…thanks for one more night above $3k)

Buying Power- $1,075.36 $1,267.36 (may change by around $30 if that IMPP does or does not fill, but no plans to enter anything else for the rest of the day)

So yeah, definitely a little nervous holding so many FDs, but I’m really really hoping TWTR and COST end up doing well, lotta risk/reward on those. Really, really, really hoping COST falls through 560 and TWTR pops up to 54 this week, just a couple of good exits and I’ll be taking it easy for a bit, focusing on that Amazon split and lightly scalping/swinging what I can in the WeBull cash account. I am definitely a little overleveraged on positons near bottoms/tops (though they both have somewhat extenuating circumstances, just one more red day COST, just one more), so I’m already nervous as fuck tonight. I feel like I’ve kind of been both under and overtrading, jumping in on stuff I shouldn’t and not jumping in on things I should, so really just hoping to get out of these positions a bit green and be set up for smaller but less risky gains the next few weeks

EoD-
Yep, this shit is impossible without access to day trades. Screw that Twitter halt’s IV drop just about killling the calls, and fuck off Costco/SPY, you really gotta pick today to fucking reverse? Now I’m in the spot where I KNOW I’m trading emotionally/revenge trading, hoping to just fucking make something back and ending up with like twice the loss and quadruple the risk. I’m done til I can work around the scalping, it is next to fucking impossible to succeed without access (now I see why they took it away for accounts under 25k, too easy to save your ass on losing trades, or take profits when they’re actually fucking there. Can’t have the poors doing that…). Can the fucking market die for ONE MORE DAY now that I actually jumped in on all these (for the past week) lucrative puts? Fucking getting sick of being a day late and dollar short for trying my own things out, I don’t want to just follow and not learn shit, and the day I finally say, “Okay, actually just gonna mostly follow” is the day everything gets sketchy in the market?
It’s a bad joke at this point, the 1:1 followers end up better off for less work most of the time, meanwhile, I’m over here probably about to get blown out just for trying to not be a fucking lurking Bot Spam Channel NPC. Pissed off at that big time.

[Labubs]

Things turned around a little today, super thankful MX, ZIM, and COST did great, the rest was housekeeping, trimming out some positions or one or two options out of them to rebuy for a better average with the same number of contracts, did this for GLD and SOXL today. It realizes loss, but lowers exposure, still working out the different techniques etc for averaging down efficiently on positions I feel I’m a bit too heavy into. Grabbed a UVXY call towards EoD anticipating more volatility/downside. Otherwise, I was following along the charts with different SPY strikes and kind of paper trading them, trying to get a feel before jumping in with real cash. Lots of fake money made, though actually going in and getting fills would be a whole different story, I know. Still figuring its best to be more passive this week, this earnings season is crazy

Bought
1x 5/20 GLD 0.44 (moving the average down)
2x SOXL 5/29 30c 0.87 (one at 0.88, one at 0.86)
1x UVXY 5/6 17.5c 2.00

Sold
1x COST 5/20 530p 8.15 (was really really happy to see this dip under $59, I was staring daggers at the chart at $60 haha)
1x DWAC 4/29 30p 0.26 (that green candle, oof)
2x SPY 4/29 400p 0.70
1x SPY 4/29 380p 0.20
3x TWTR 4/29 53c, one for 0.08, 0.09, and 0.10
2x TWTR 4/29 42p 0.04
1x SOXL 5/20 30c 0.90 (reducing average)
2x GLD 5/20 190c 0.45 (reducing position and average)
2x MX 5/20 17.5c 1.20 ()
1x ZIM 5/20 17.5c 3.80 ()

Open Positions
2x CEI 4/29 2c 0.05
1x UVXY 5/6 17.5c 2.00
1x BEEM 5/20 50c 0.70
3x GLD 5/20 190c 0.98
2x PFE 5/20 55c 0.4733
3x SOXL 5/20 30c 1.27
2x CCL 6/17 25c 0.31
2x SNDL 1/2023 0.40

Account Balance: $3,216.08 (+$205.72, +6.83%)
Buying Power: $2,493.08

Hectic week, super grateful for the green when I see it! SOXL and GLD’s new averages give a bit more hope, though let’s see what happens with all these earnings and the whole market etc. I may be doubling down into a losing trade with SOXL, but getting that average within $0.50 gives me hope for it, especially with the further out expiration. I’ve been noticing a few things about the way my mind works that I need to be aware of though, I’ll feel better sinking $600 into 4 contracts rather than $500 into one, I gotta chill the fuck out on monthly expirations and not stress so hard, and I gotta stay aware of FOMO and feeling like I ‘missed it’. It can be tough to see strikes you had looked at surpassing like half your port, especially 4 or 5 times in one week, but I just keep reminding myself there are always more plays. That’s something that’s been preached around here for as long as I’ve been here and most times people were feeling down and out, more opportunity came along. The opportunity is there every day (looking at your AH scalps Phil, and Jekyll all day lol), I really just gotta shit or get off the pot sometimes. Other times I need to know when it’s time to cut. I’ve been using “market weirdness” as an excuse to get loose with my personal stop losses/profit-taking %s, and I’ve paid for that…

Anyway, having most of it back into cash and further expiries has me relaxed a bit more, really gonna take this time to evaluate all these things I’ve been realizing about myself, the stuff I allow to work me up and the stuff I don’t take seriously enough, and apply those lessons to my trading. I will be successful in all this, I know I can be, I just need to keep learning, using what I learn, and stay above water in the meantime. This will be a multi year process, but I’m well and truly hooked on all this, not for the excitement of the gamble, but fitting all the pieces together and seeing trades work out, that’s pretty awesome