First entry. Lately I’ve just been following the challenge trades and supplementing that with trades on BTU which has been my golden goose all year. I’ve also been wheeling Ford since selling an $18 CSP back around earnings. Still in the red on that but my cost basis is starting to come in line with price. I’m bullish on F long term, but it’s mainly a way for me to try and generate modest but steady income and also keeps about half my money in a less risky trading strategy.
3/31/2022
Kinda rough day made sweet by the after-hours action on GME. Need to get out of SNDL soon. Will probably just risk this WEAT call expiring worthless in case wheat actually spikes (what happened to food crisis?). BTU did bounce off support like I expected, but it was super choppy in PM. I averaged down on support and caught a good bounce back up to $25 and sold half my position there. Will likely cut my remaining call if it hits $25 again which would be around 25% profit; that’s a little less than I usually settle for on BTU trades, but the market is just hella sketchy right now. Coal can’t seem to decide if it’s spy-correlated or spy-inversed. Given some recent losses on RSX and WEAT and AMC I need to take profits where I can get them. Back to basics.
5 GME $510 APRIL 22 CALL @ 1.47
8 SNDL $0.5 20 JAN 23 CALL @ .45
1 BTU $24 14 APRIL 22 CALL @ 1.65
1 BGFV $20 15 JUL 22 CALL @ 1.90
2 x HMHC $22.5 MAY 20 22 CALL @ .30
2 x HMHC $25 MAY 22 CALL @ .15
1 x WEAT $11 APRIL 22 CALL @ .60
100 SHARES F @ 17.32
$1,511.40 CASH
Trades:
BUYS:
BTU $24 14 APRIL 22 CALL @ 1.45 (brought position average down to $1.65)
BGFV $20 15 JUL 22 CALL @ 1.90 (starting position following Ni’s DD).
F $18 01 APRIL 22 CALL @ 0.02 (legging out of my CC for 90% profit).
2 x HMHC $22.5 MAY 20 22 CALL @ .30 (challenge play)
2 x HMHC $25 MAY 22 CALL @ .15 (challenge play)
GME $510 APRIL 22 CALL @ 0.45 (averaging down on my position).
SELLS:
BTU $24 APRIL 22 CALL @ 2.00 (sold 1 of my 2 calls for 21% profit).
GME $510 APRIL 22 CALL @ .72 (sold the call I bought at .45 to deleverage and average down).
4/1/2022
Disappointing to neutral day again. Sucks that I was up over 5k at one point this week and now I’m back down. It’s a bit of greed/fomo, but mainly just holding out of conviction and being proven wrong (AMC and GME).
One bright note was that I sold my BTU call for 51% profit. I mitigated losses on my GME 510s, but took the gamble on GME FD’s and lost there as well. I never play FDs and should probably stick with that, but the potential for a GME run was too tantalizing and the risk seemed worth the reward.
Picked up MOS closer to the bottom today–waited a while after Conq’s original buy because I didn’t like the support he was looking at and patience paid off somewhat and I caught a lower support level but not the lowest of the day.
Also picked up some May/June VYGG calls based on the OnlyFans SPAC rumor. Still haven’t gotten out of SNDL–even though these are LEAPs it’s looking less likely that price will push into squeeze territory. Picked up a GME $250C near close for the bois.
Looking at my positions I feel like I’m in too many things right and need to trim back to just playing 2-3 tickers at a time. BGFV, WEAT, and SNDL are the obvious candidates to cut on Monday.
1 x GME $250 APRIL 14 CALL @ 3.70
8 x SNDL $0.5 20 JAN 23 CALL @ .45
1 x BGFV $20 15 JUL 22 CALL @ 1.90
2 x HMHC $22.5 MAY 20 22 CALL @ .30
2 x HMHC $25 MAY 22 CALL @ .15
1 x WEAT $11 APRIL 22 CALL @ .60
2 x MOS $68 APRIL 14 CALL @ 2.07
2 x VYGG $10 MAY 22 CALL @ .14
10 x VYGG $10 JUNE 22 CALL @ .18
100 SHARES F @ 17.32
$894.19 CASH
Trades :
BUYS:
1 x GME $250 APRIL 14 CALL @ 3.70
10 x GME $250 APRIL 01 CALL @ .28
10 x GME $395 APRIL 01 CALL @ .045
2 x MOS $68 APRIL 14 CALL @ 2.07
2 x VYGG $10 MAY 22 CALL @ .14
10 x VYGG $10 JUNE 22 CALL @ .18
SELLS:
BTU $24 APRIL 22 CALL @ 2.50 (51% profit).
GME $510 APRIL 22 CALL @ .83 average (43% loss).
GME $395 APRIL 01 CALL @ 0.01 (100% loss)
GME $250 APRIL 01 CALL @ 0.10 (64% loss)
4/4/2022
Forgot to make entry yesterday. Neutral/slight down today. Still in SNDL, BGFV, and WEAT because none gave me a good exit opportunity and BGFV showed strong signs of reversal. Picked up some April $25 and May $30 BTU calls again on the dip, and averaged down throughout the day on those. Coal goat a bump towards the end of the day off news that US prices hit the highest price since 2008. Also averaged down on my MOS position with 1 more call.
Ending Balance: around $3,970.00
Day’s P&L: around (50) (-1.00%)
Positions:
1 x GME $250 APRIL 14 CALL @ 3.70
8 x SNDL $0.5 20 JAN 23 CALL @ .45
1 x BGFV $20 15 JUL 22 CALL @ 1.90
2 x HMHC $22.5 MAY 20 22 CALL @ .30
2 x HMHC $25 MAY 22 CALL @ .15
1 x WEAT $11 APRIL 22 CALL @ .60
3 x MOS $68 APRIL 14 CALL @ 1.90
2 x VYGG $10 MAY 22 CALL @ .14
10 x VYGG $10 JUNE 22 CALL @ .18
3 x BTU $25 APRIL 14 CALL @ 1.60
1 x BTU $30 MAY 22 CALL @ 1.90
100 SHARES F @ 17.32
Trades :
BUYS:
3 x BTU $25 APRIL 14 CALL @ 1.60
1 x BTU $30 MAY 22 CALL @ 1.90
1 x MOS $68 APRIL 14 CALL @ 1.55
4/5/2022
Started off the day very strong, up about 16% total. Sold out of all my BTU $25s shortly after open, and then started a new position when it fell back down to $25 support. Sold all of my MOS at open as well for nice gains. Was determined not to overtrade today and really just sat back and watched with the exception of picking up some new BTU positions and averaging down on my May calls. (As tempting as it was to jump into BEEM and THCA).
In general I’d like to shoot for modest 2-5% gains in higher conviction plays instead of trying to play this on challenge mode. Even 2-5% gains per day would be like having a whole extra full-time income. Jumping into every ticker in the challenge account has been stressful and every time I make a big gain I seem to just gamble it away.
1 x GME $250 APRIL 14 CALL @ 3.70
8 x SNDL $0.5 20 JAN 23 CALL @ .45
1 x BGFV $20 15 JUL 22 CALL @ 1.90
2 x HMHC $22.5 MAY 20 22 CALL @ .30
2 x HMHC $25 MAY 22 CALL @ .15
1 x WEAT $11 APRIL 22 CALL @ .60
2 x VYGG $10 MAY 22 CALL @ .14
10 x VYGG $10 JUNE 22 CALL @ .18
2 x BTU $25 APRIL 14 CALL @ 1.73
2 x BTU $30 MAY 22 CALL @ 2.25
100 SHARES F @ 17.32
Trades :
BUYS:
2 x BTU $25 APRIL 14 CALL @ 1.73
1 x BTU $30 MAY 22 CALL @ 2.60
SELLS:
3 x BTU $25 APRIL 14 CALL @ 2.90 average (81% profit)
2 x MOS $68 APRIL 14 CALL @ 2.87 average (51% profit) (forgot that I sold one of these yesterday for 1-2% gain, so I only had 2 to sell this morning.
4/6/2022
Can’t be unhappy with profit. Averaged down on BTU when it dipped at open and then sold on the run to $26.50. Bought in again on the pullback and am sitting down just a few % on my current calls. Kind of standard procedure for BTU at this point.
Ditched GME for a loss instead of averaging down–didn’t want to risk any more of my money with a stock that has made me profit maybe 10% of the time. At the time I cut I was also up 4% on my account and that’s within my goal I’ve set for myself so I was OK with letting it go. Also cut WEAT for a loss for the same reason. Still holding SNDL and BGFV because there’s a lot of time on those options still. Feel like I’m closer to a more manageable # of tickers.
8 x SNDL $0.5 20 JAN 23 CALL @ .45
1 x BGFV $20 15 JUL 22 CALL @ 1.90
4 x HMHC $22.5 MAY 20 22 CALL @ .28
4 x HMHC $25 MAY 22 CALL @ .18
2 x VYGG $10 MAY 22 CALL @ .14
10 x VYGG $10 JUNE 22 CALL @ .18
3 x BTU $25 APRIL 14 CALL @ 1.72
3 x BTU $30 MAY 22 CALL @ 2.05
100 SHARES F @ 17.32
CASH: $944.59
Trades :
BUYS:
1 x BTU $25 APRIL 14 CALL @ 1.25 (averaged down with this and then sold it shortly after)
3 x BTU $25 APRIL 14 CALL @ 1.72 (new position taken on pullback)
1 x BTU $30 MAY 22 CALL @ 1.65 (averaging down on existing position)
2 x HMHC $22.5 MAY 22 CALL @ .25
2 x HMHC $25 MAY 20 22 CALL @ .20
SELLS:
3 x BTU $25 APRIL 14 CALL @ 2.15 AVERAGE (37% PROFIT)
1 x WEAT $11 APRIL 22 CALL @ .16 (73% LOSS)
1 x GME $250 APRIL 14 CALL @ .91 (75% LOSS)
4/7/2022
Solid green day thanks to that absurd SPY turnaround, though I’ve got $170 in losses coming my way when these HMHC calls expire worthless. Still a net profit for the day.
I sold all my BTU $25s and one of my $30s but unfortunately left a lot of potential profit on the table. I know that profit-taking is always good, but one thing in the challenge I’m consistently impressed by is Conq’s ability to maximize the gains from winning trades and not scale out too early. For instance, Conq didn’t sell a single BEEM call until it hit $25 today, and that was after a multi-dollar run. When I see green I start to get really anxious to secure the gains, which isn’t a bad thing, but it’s still an emotional trading style that’s negatively impacting my profitability, and I have a lot of room to improve there.
Gonna look tomorrow and early next week for entry into BEEM (and maybe THCA) for some May options. Hoping for a green day on Ford so I can sell a call for decent premium–at the moment these shares are just dead weight.
4/8/2022
A lot of up and down to arrive back at almost 0% change. Bought into $27 BTU calls on the dip. Averaged down up to 4 contracts and then sold 1 for breakeven just to deleverage a bit since they are almost FDs at this point. Sold another for 10% on a little run up. Holding the other 2 contracts over the weekend. Still have my May $30s which are up 20-30% but I feel safe holding out on those for now.
8 x SNDL $0.5 20 JAN 23 CALL @ .45
1 x BGFV $20 15 JUL 22 CALL @ 1.90
2 x VYGG $10 MAY 22 CALL @ .14
10 x VYGG $10 JUNE 22 CALL @ .18
2 x BTU $30 MAY 22 CALL @ 2.05
2 x BTU $27 APRIL 14 CALL @ 1.53
2 x THCA $12.5 APRIL 14 CALL @ 1.05
100 SHARES F @ 17.11
CASH: $1369.80
TRASH:
4 x HMHC $22.5 MAY 20 22 CALL @ .28
4 x HMHC $25 MAY 22 CALL @ .18
Trades :
BUYS:
4 x BTU $27 APRIL 14 CALL @ 1.53
2 x THCA $12.5 APRIL 14 CALL @ 1.05
SELLS:
1 x BTU $27 APRIL 14 CALL @ 1.55 (AVERAGED DOWN AND THEN SOLD 1 CALL TO DELEVERAGE A BIT)
1 x BTU $27 APRIL 14 CALL @ 1.65 (TOOK PROFIT AT 10% SINCE THESE ARE ALMOST FDs)
1 x F $18 MAY 20 CALL @ .21 (SOLD COVERED CALL)
4/12/2022
Forgot to make an entry yesterday, but I ended the day down about 5% and the only trades I made were to get out of THCA when Conq did, and to average down 1 more BTU $27 call to bring my average down to $1.25 on those.
Today was pretty dope. BTU set a new 52-week high but I paper-handed out of my April calls very early in the run–at the time I was just happy to get out of them green, but yet again I left a lot of potential profit on the table. I even left the last call “to ride” and then I think sold it when it broke $28.
Still have my May calls and am looking to add to that position before the end of the week, even if it means averaging up on the $30s. I think after 15 consecutive green trades on this I’m willing to increase the stakes to somewhere around 25% of my account, so roughly $1000-1250 total position. I could see BTU likely pulling back to 27.50-75, but $27 and even $26 aren’t out of the question, and when that happens I will be looking to pick up whatever the nearest ATM strike call is.
8 x SNDL $0.5 20 JAN 23 CALL @ .45
1 x BGFV $20 15 JUL 22 CALL @ 1.90
2 x VYGG $10 MAY 22 CALL @ .14
10 x VYGG $10 JUNE 22 CALL @ .18
2 x BTU $30 MAY 22 CALL @ 2.05
1 x BTU $28 APRIL 14 PUT @ .60
100 SHARES F @ 17.11
CASH: $1336.53
TRASH:
4 x HMHC $22.5 MAY 20 22 CALL @ .28
4 x HMHC $25 MAY 22 CALL @ .18
Trades :
BUYS:
1 x BTU $28 APRIL 14 PUT @ .60
1 x BTU $29 APRIL 14 CALL @ .50
SELLS:
3 x BTU $27 APRIL 14 CALL @ 1.45 (18% PROFIT)
1 X BTU $29 APRIL 14 CALL @ .65 (30% PROFIT)
4/13/2022
Another good day. Closing in on that 5k mark again which has been a stumbling point for me this year. Hoping to leave it in the rearview soon.
Expected a serious pullback on BTU in PM or the morning but never really saw one. Cut the put I had bought for a small loss. I didn’t feel like the dip to 28.22 was really an optimal place to buy-in again and I hope the future proves me right. I can only afford to get like 3 contracts without over-leveraging, so taking good entries is paramount. At the same time I don’t want to miss out on the momentum, so I think tomorrow I will make a starter position if I can catch a pullback to 29-29.50 area.
I sold one of my May calls for 100% profit and am letting the other one ride for now. I think 35 or even 40 is possible by May OPEX. My only buy today was one of the SPY lottos that Conq picked up. Seemed like a fun gamble.
4/14/2022
Didn’t do any trading today but came out slightly green which I will gladly take. BTU still climbing. Up 140% on my last $30 call. Was hoping to load up again on a pullback, but I hesitated a little too long on the best opportunity of the day and by the time I was ready to put in a bid, the stock was already climbing back up.
4/26/2022
Haven’t been keeping up with this because I’ve been minimally trading. Just been getting bent over by the overall market downturn. BTU dipped a lot further than I anticipated and I ended up with less-than-great entries. I’ve been averaging down but not looking to put any more $ into the trade.
Earnings are coming up on the 28th in PM I believe (or possibly during trading hours…call scheduled for 11 AM but they might release data before that?). ARCH had their earnings today and blew it out of the water and the whole sector got a lift as a result.
Currently I’m content just riding this downturn out with May calls. Coal prices are still through the roof with no bearish catalysts that I’m aware of.
8 x SNDL $0.5 20 JAN 23 CALL @ .45
1 x BGFV $20 15 JUL 22 CALL @ 1.90
2 x VYGG $10 MAY 22 CALL @ .14
10 x VYGG $10 JUNE 22 CALL @ .18
2 x BTU $30 MAY 22 CALL @ 1.58
3 x BTU $28 MAY 22 CALL @ 2.33
4 x BTU $31 MAY 22 CALL @ 2.43
Reviving this journal after a long hiatus interspersed with random days of bad (i.e stupid) and/or unlucky trades.
Account was almost 5k this time last year and now it’s at $600. Thought I was doing better and learning something and things were going well for a while but then I kept averaging down on one unlucky trade which lost me about a third of my account. Had some winners since then but clearly tons more losers.
Wanting to get back to being active most days. My goal is just to get 2-3% per day and keep losses similar.
I think I’m pretty good about taking profits once I see 10-20%, but I bail out of winning trades too early more often than not. I’m really fucking bad about letting losers go deep in the red. Always setting a stop at -10% could be an over correction but still something of a solution to that problem.
I’m happy to set a rule like always exit at 10% profit, but then I need to cap losses at -5% for the r:r to make sense to me. Such a small margin for error means it’s easy to get wicked out on trades that then go on to be winners though. Could use advice here.
Some other rules I need to stick to:
No 0DTE options, period.
3 losing trades in a day means I’m done.
Identify supports at which I’ll cut losses and follow through if the price falls below. Use this to inform SL %s. (This can be tricky because sometimes it’ll look like a support has been broken with confirmation but then 2 candles later it’s back above it ).
Identify resistance areas and PTs to take profit/exit.
Stick to trading ETFs/Indices except for server plays.
Don’t enter a trade unless someone more skilled than me is entering a similar trade in the same direction.
Been treading water lately. Calling it quits on days when I see at least 2% profit, and quitting on days when I lose 3 trades (which usually draws me down 3-5%). Can’t seem to make steady upward progress. Had 3 losers Friday and 3 again today just trying to play levels on SPY.
Today I tried 412 calls off a 411.50 support bounce but got stopped out because it dipped to 411.40ish before actually bouncing. That kind of shit happens to me a lot. I try to get a fill right at what “should” be support or resistance, but then it actually goes 10-20 cents or so lower/higher. Then the next time I’ll tell myself to wait a little longer but then I miss the entry altogether.
Very frustrating because the majority of the time I call the overall direction right but the entry is just off or my SL is too tight. I don’t like the idea of increasing my SL % but I’m also just going to bleed out if I keep getting wicked out of trades that would otherwise be quite green.
I also need to examine my levels more closely. Noticing today that while 411.50 made sense as a support there was a somewhat better indication on 2 earlier candles that 411.36 was the support and not 411.50. But of course it’s easier to find evidence in hindsight once you’re able to see how things played out.
Trying not to get too emotional but this is a specific brand of frustration that gets under my skin. Done for today and I’ll try again tomorrow.
Came out around 3% up yesterday and then right back down 3% today. Was down 5% at one point but managed to claw back some money shorting SPY off 416 resistance. Fought the trend too much today with puts, but playing calls seemed equally retarded at most points today. The best entries I saw today (i.e. the ones that ended up paying 100%+) were folks buying at resistance and luckily spy ran another .50-1.00 for them. Happy folks are making money but I won’t lie it’s hard to watch those riskier entries pay off big sometimes.
I notice there are days when the upper crust play SPY a lot and then other days when they avoid it like the plague, and I’m not sure what all informs those choices. I get that some days have more catalysts and some days SPY just ranges $1-2, but today saw fairly eventful price action and yet a number of the people whose trades I normally follow weren’t trading it at all. Maybe I should have taken that as a sign.
I’m trying to stick to just trading SPY, but if it’s not worth trading it every day, then I either need to find other plays or accept that there will be days when I just don’t trade at all.
Accepting that some days aren’t worth playing is the hardest thing to do sometimes, especially when in hindsight you see a chart that screams “calls would have been profitable at literally any point”. You just gotta recognize that this is hindsight and you can only make decisions based on what’s in front of you.
I sold calls for breakeven that ended up going 9-10x at one point. I walked away when it started to bother me and just came back now. There’s always tomorrow.
SPY is a very very tough thing to trade. Even as much as I have traded it I have lost a lot on it too, not just all gains. Especially on FDs(0 DTE) because your risk tolerance and entries have to be spot on. Today we saw a pre market push up with a selloff before data at 10am. Then it ran up hard with a few smaller drops of previous support like the 11am drop to 411.50 about and then ranged traded around 2-4pm. Look at your entries and trend. I think the bank news hit that sector harder and that is why it had most my attention today and was not until end of day that I started to trade SPY calls once debt ceiling news kept coming out. As much as I love the thrill of SPY I am way more profitable playing stocks vs SPY. The addiction keeps me going back but I try to avoid SPY as much as possible now. Smart traders that win more often on SPY trade 1-2 weeks out and slow play it but not so much fun. That is the hard part but its a lot safer. Not sure any of this helps but this is after trading SPY for 2-3 years heavy. I love it, but now I try to not play it so much.
Was down big at one point today, like -13% and managed to get back to only 3% down. I couldn’t resist SPY calls on that big pullback around noon but I got stopped out for a loss (and then of course spy went on to do what it did).
Made some money playing JPM and NVDA calls today. Also took calls on AI for next Friday that were down pretty badly at one point today but are now slightly green. I had to average down and was hoping to sell one contract before close when AI pushed over $27 briefly but I missed the sell by like .02. Ironically, I was tempted to move my limit down but told myself to be patient (which in hindsight is a dumb stance to take for $2) because I often move my limits down only for the price to reach or exceed my original goal (which is what happened with NVDA this afternoon).
No more SPY for a while for me, unless someone with brains is making the callout.
Probably done for the day as nothing much is going on. Currently down 9% for today thanks to these AI calls. Unsure why AI dumped 5% today which is disproportionate to things overall as far as I can tell. Not seeing any specific news. At open it hadn’t really moved so I went back to bed for like 20 minutes and during that time it touched $28 and I completely missed the exit. Since then it’s just been dropping. There’s some hope that it’ll find support at $25 and bounce but I get to burn a whole weekend of theta to find out.
A rough week for me overall. Down 17%. I think I had one meager positive day and all the rest were losers so not feeling great. This is usually the point where I get really hard on myself and give up and walk away for weeks/months, but I want to get better at this. I can identify some misguided trades but honestly a lot of it just seems like bad luck; there were so many trades this week where I was stopped out of a position that almost immediately turned around, and if my SL had been 1-2% wider or my entry 5-10 cents lower my week would have been completely different. Picking options with a more favorable delta for my risk tolerance is something I’m going to focus on next week, and hopefully that’ll lead to getting wicked out of fewer trades. I can’t pick stuff with .5 delta and expect a few $ SL to not get wicked. Someone suggested I look at .25-.3 delta instead. I also need to identify some tickers that are more appropriate for the amount of cash I’m working with as well. 2% risk on a trade is like $12 right now, which doesn’t give much leeway on contracts with higher premiums. It kinda seems like a lot of the stocks at or below $20 are either memes or dinosaurs that might move 5 cents in a day but I’ll find something.
edit: the most obvious lesson from this week is about position sizing and risk. I let myself average down and over-leverage instead of cutting the position after drawing down 2% of account and looking for better entry at a lower price.
Great day today, up 10% thanks to AI. I was overleveraged in my position so I cut one call for BE and then sold the other two for 20-30% each. Reentered just one $30 call for Friday because I think this wants to get over $28 and has been largely ignoring SPY downtrends on debt-ceiling stuff & other bearish news (AI had almost no reaction to that pentagon explosion news this AM). AI seems to have it’s own momentum–it’s not really tracking SPY or NVDA–which I think is promising.
Other than that I lost a couple trades on JPM which took a swan dive off $141.50 and just never recovered its momentum.
I picked up a $122 call on AAP hoping to see a sympathy run if Autozone’s earnings come in bullish.
).