Finally getting back on here after a long sabbatical from trading but wanted to start fresh and document my journey going forward, a coupe reflections from my break (other than some occasional lurking on the server) I know I have a lot to learn and have to get smarter about this or it’s going to continue to stress me out and lose money which isn’t why I came here in the first place.
Here’s the cliff notes of what happened since my abrupt departure from the server back in March. I felt I had really gotten my shit back together with trading and was finding some discipline mainly scalping spy puts very successfully until we bounced from $420 to $460 in March when I was doing a little trading on spring break with the family (lesson #1 - don’t trade on vacation, just enjoy it and take a break). I got blown out on some puts and averaged down despite the market trend and gave back all of what I had spent Jan/Feb/early March building. I was overconfident in how I felt the market was headed and kept getting greedier taking shorter dated options and eventually it blew up in my face. Lesson #2 - don’t be greedy, it’s ok to play conservative and take small gains. Lesson #3 - even though I’m convinced we haven’t bottomed don’t fight the trend for the day, sometimes you just need to cut the loss, move on, and take a break.
I was extremely pissed at myself and frustrated and stepped back after that point for a while, focused on family/work/myself. All is good and fortunately I blew up my fun money trading accounts but was just not happy with myself with how much money I completely blew apart and knew after the rough end to 21 and beginning of 22 I had to step away from what started as a hobby but became and obsession.
Now I’m back and ready to start fresh, I have a small account of about $2,500 left from what I blew up and I’m going to see how I can build it but take my time and try to really learn from the server and contribute. I’m glad you let me stay so I could come back to this place I’ve learned so much from and hope to one day be able to contribute more as I find time. This place has taught me so much and helped me make a lot of money since I found it last year. I’ll be a bit more active and work on some plays as I find time but what I’ve learned the most is I still have a lot to learn. I’ll be back with updates on the days I trade and am looking forward to getting a bit more active here again.
First day back to trading today after a great vacation with my wife last week to help me hit reset, overall a good day back. I knew work would be busy today and wouldn’t have time to focus as much on the market but everything I was seeing in the markets/news/forums looked like we were still trending up so I decided to take a longer call position this morning on SPY with 9/16 $450’s that way I would have time to average down if needed and could manage the position without constant oversight. I started the position with 2 @ $1.20 cost and ended up with 10 total calls at $1.22 cost which I sold all of them for $1.45-$1.50 for a nice little profit. I took some remaining funds and started a small UVXY position (9/16 $10’s at .78 cost basis total) as I feel like we may have some downside volatility this week with some bigger earnings and CPI on Wednesday. I’m holding them overnight and am prepared to hold into Wednesday if needed but gave myself some time on them.
Taking lower returns on some longer dated positions that are a month out but it’s where I’ve gotten myself trapped in the past taking short positions with too much of my portfolio so trying this especially when I know life is busy which it will be this week. Actually ended the day with some buying power available that I just left sit which is also a new thing for me but felt good not to throw it all out there, up 7% for the day which I’m happy with and staying away from the squeeze plays that may have big returns but won’t dabble in those until I build up my buying power. Overall a great day and pulled most of this from the forums and my own analysis for the plays today, thanks all for contributing and see you tomorrow!
Grabbed a few more UVXY today and scalped for a small profit. Carrying 2 overnight for some volatility tomorrow and also grabbed a spy 9/16 $400 put today when when we hit $430 that’s a little red but Il feel we have some downside ahead of us or there will be an opportunity to dump tomorrow. Busy day at work so I missed some of the bigger moves but learned a little from what I had time to review just now and hope to be able to participate in these in the next few weeks. +1.2% for the day.
Been a busy week so haven’t had a chance to get daily updates in and my trading has been fairly limited all week. I’ve been playing some September SPY puts as my week has been too busy to scalp weekly’s and FD’s (plus those usually just get me into trouble). I did hold some overnight and it paid well on the drop this morning. I’m going to hold a few positions into next week but have capital to average down if needed and they’re 9/16’s weight a great cost basis as I took profit on the positions this morning so there’s lots of time but feel this bear market bounce is about over and we’ll eventually come to set a new low later this year…but I’ll cut next week if we see the trend continue up for SPY and a break of $430. Currently at +19.51% for the week and very happy with it, closing out Discord/TD so I can get some work done the rest of the day but will catch-up over the weekend and be back next week. Great week ya’ll, hoping to jump on some of JB’s plays next week as I should have a little more time to trade now that I’m caught up from vacation at work.
Just cut the rest of what I was holding after a quick catch-up on TF and potential for some green next week since we had big red today. Carrying all cash into the weekend and stress free. Will reposition Monday. +19.56% for the week, great first full week back!
Great day today, was going to play a spread on NVDA but after pulling all the large sweep put orders in some of my DD and market direction this morning I decided to play puts only. I scalped some weeklies pretty quick this morning for a small gain and took a longer 9/16 position on $150’s, scaled out of those for some great profit. Also played some longer dated spy puts and was happy with the profit even though it wasn’t huge on those plus wasn’t sure if we were going to bounce this morning so I sold them even though I was planning to hold longer.
It’s all about taking profit when you see it and I was happy with the gains and didn’t want to give them back, overall my day was at 7.37% and I’m all cash overnight again. Balance is creeping up to almost $3,500 and I plan to start scaling out a few bucks to hold in reserves in case I do something stupid again or my plays don’t pan out. Historically the bigger my fun account balance gets the stronger my confidence and riskier my trades get so teaching myself discipline and pulling cash out is important to me right now even though it’ll mean slower growth.
I feel like NVDA puts may still be a play this week but it’s dropped quite a bit so I’m not entering at open tomorrow, will monitor and add my thoughts the thread I opened over the weekend as I have time.
Took a fresh NVDA position when the market ran up this morning and cut a few throughout the day for some small gains, holding 2 9/16’s overnight that are currently up 11% and I’ll most likely cut one or both before close tomorrow. A lot of large sweep put order’s throughout the day again today but told myself awhile back I won’t hold through ER, hoping we maybe get a gap down tomorrow and that’ll get me in a spot where I can hold the one for near free money through as I really feel strongly NVDA is going to dump on ER.
I took a some SPY puts around open (earlier than I should have) and cut them pretty quick for pretty much no gain but sucked up a lot of my BP today. I also got in a few RAM’s but cut them before it started running today, still happy with the 5-10% small gains as these are the plays that added more stress than I needed in my life earlier this year but the gains are nice if you can be patient with fills and cut when the gains are decent. I think the server played this one pretty well today from what I’ve seen and that progress is amazing my only concern is there were a few comments about spreading it on Reddit and I hate to see the server end up down that rabbit hole again.
Overall I’m at +4.14% for the day but I struggle to count it when it’s not cash in the bank but +11.82% for the week and pretty much playing with my gains from the week in my two overnight holds which feels good.
Getting some discipline back but still have work to do, I love to deploy that BP too early and wait for plays to develop. My goal tomorrow is to not enter anything unless it’s one of the server plays until 9:30CST and I have a staffing issue to deal with at work so that should help keep my focus elsewhere.
Seems like the server is heading to an amazing place once again and fun to be a part of it again.
Cut my NVDA after I got free at work, made a few other very quick scalps on it but don’t have time to focus on the market today. Most likely done for the day at +3.2%. Back tomorrow with hopefully some more time to trade.
Didn’t have a chance to trade at all this afternoon due to some things that came up at work but happy with the day as it was still green and feel like I’m getting a bit more patient. Hoping to trade some of the server plays tomorrow if work allows.
What a day, started the day off with a 100% banger on JB’s DG callout and then scalped it again for a quick 10%, not huge positions but great profit. Scalped some NVDA puts after that for 8% before it snorted lines and then got caught in another position with my pants down when it took off so I cut that for a pretty hefty loss. Lesson learned and should have been happy with my DG play and not jumped into something else so quick. I grabbed a couple October SPY puts around $416 that are nice and red but I’ll average those down tomorrow unless we gap down overnight. As my account is building a bit I’ve learned a couple grand is all I really need in daily scalps so trying to diversify with a bit of longer holds on the balance I’ve started to build up. I also took the profits from today and transferred them out as I’ve proven to myself I can’t make responsible choices once I start growing my account. Overall +11.73% on the day for total portfolio and I disbursed some cash. Can’t wait to play some more of JB’s scalps tomorrow, need to stay out of my own damn way and stop thinking I’m such a good trader. Hope everyone made some great green today, this server is loaded with great plays and the guidance to help you capitalize on them!
Got myself into a little hot water this morning as I had some stuff come up at work as I was positioning into DG, averaged down and was able to get out with a nominal loss before the market dumped. I also averaged down my two October Spy puts which paid nicely and ended up selling everything now so going into the weekend 100% cash once again and no stress. Will look to reposition Monday on some longer SPY puts but wouldn’t be surprised for a bounce today since we’ve already dropped 2%. Ended at +2.26% for the day but it was more stressful than I’d like. Looking forward to hopefully having some more time to trade next week. It was a nice green week, one more like this and I’ll hit my goal so I can up my monthly server contribution. I’ll update my profits for the week later tonight but wanted to get this out there while it’s fresh. I should have stayed out of scalps this morning knowing we had the circus performance coming out of J Hole. Still a great day and week, good luck everyone today stay green!
Overall my week was +45.54% with the cash disbursement I took out, Going to pull some more cash out this weekend and start next week with $4K in my trading account. Been a fun two weeks here but still too much self inflicted stress, need to stop trading when life is busy and realize there’s multiple plays all throughout the day that can still print. Plan to review my journal notes over the last two weeks and figure out the big changes I need to implement to continue this success as my gains could have been significantly higher this week.
Didn’t have a chance to play much today as the real job got in the way and the market was too choppy for me this morning but I caught a break mid-day and did a few quick SPY scalps off the $405ish rejection, ended the day +2.25%. Hoping to get into some bigger plays the next few days as time permits, ended the day with a lot of buying power for my trading account and finding a place where I’m ok with it. Still transferring out the 2.25% from today and forcing myself to a $4K starting balance until I can prove some trading discipline for more than one day.
Spent some time in the forums and even though I’m full bear mode I haven’t grabbed any longer puts yet as I feel like we may hover here for a bit until we get some more news.
Today wasn’t a great day, told myself I wasn’t getting into anything deep early so I took a few PDD calls along with some CHPT to ride up IV into close, I was convinced in my head we weren’t going to see SPY punch below $400 since it was strong support so I averaged into them and ended up with bigger positions than intended. Was able to navigate my way through an average down on PDD and get out green at .08-.12 per contract which was a big win where the average down started. Was into CHPT deep and didn’t expect to see SPY continue to drop so I averaged down and ended up with a fair size position at close. I decided to hold into ER as I felt this one might buck the trend and sometimes I like to gamble. I’ll take a pretty big loss on it tomorrow based on how things look right now. I also grabbed a few SLB based on House’s DD on the forum’s and feeling like oil’s going to run back up yet, they’re October calls so I have time and they closed green on the day. I have 15 CHPT 9/2 $16’s that I’m writing off for tomorrow at this point and if somehow we open green and get a run I’ll take whatever win I can get but they’ll be gone fairly early. Account is down 4.68% for the day. My to do list of things to work on.
Need to kill the fomo in the morning and be ok waiting to enter - I knew the news was bad today when I got it but just had it stuck we weren’t punching under $400, need to stop thinking I’m so damn smart and be ok sitting out the first hour. I KNOW THIS
Don’t fight the trend of the day and continue to average down, cut the small position early and move on or sit out the rest of the day
DON’T FIGHT THE TREND FOR THE DAY
DON’T HOLD INTO ER
Even if I’m convinced a play is going to work like PDD as I didn’t sell at high of the day and let quite a bit on the table overall it almost lost the set-up I liked because of the market
A lot to learn, work in progress and a lot of life happening so I need to be ok sitting it out. Getting overconfident so after tomorrow I’m going to take the account balance down a bit again for awhile and work on my discipline.
Had a great day and my trading was done by 8:45 for the day, took the quick wins and focused on work the rest of the day after my emotional morning with kids starting school and a full plate at work. Had some big wins though even with my overnight hold on CHPT.
Sold my CHPT 9/2 - $16’s for about 75% overall, didn’t cut them all at once and could have made more but was happy for the profit after being pissed at myself for overnight holds that cause stress. I promise this is the last time I do this stupid shit with more than a lotto or two, overall it’s peanuts but I’m trying to get discipline with smaller balances so I don’t blow things up as I build up this account. I have a history of getting risky and overconfident when I have some success trading and trying to break these habits.
PDD with market trending green this morning, bought some 9/16 - $75’s for $1.75 and sold them for $2.20, quick 25% in minutes
HPQ - Thanks JB and server! - this was the play of the day and I should have went in stronger. Initially went in when it was under $30 and i should have been patient but was able to quickly average down after listening to VC a bit and even though market was pushing up it was struggling breaking $30 so I felt like if it did climb over I was ok averaging down which I did and ended up with a pretty decent position of 9/2 - $29’s that I got in for initially at .30 and most of my average down was at .21. I sold them all around .32/.33/.34 which i know could have been stronger but I was too happy with the quick gain after my dumbass held the CHPT overnight.
I was way too green for the day and it was time to be done because this is when I usually get stupid so I checked out and got to work.
Overall I was 29% for the day and staying true to my word I’m taking some cash out tomorrow and going to start September with around $3,500 to trade with tomorrow as this is plenty to get the daily gains I want and not do dumb shit. I started the month with about $2,750 in this account and with what I’ve taken out I almost did 100% in less than three weeks.
I love this place and all our minds together making some great money, I’m still a work in progress but I’ll continue to push myself and contribute where I can to make this place even better. And sticking to my word and going to take my monthly server contribution to Benefactor tomorrow and hoping for more of this great stuff.
My September Goal - $10K total balance (100%) of what I’m ending August with, this happens and I’ll continue to upgrade my monthly server contribution.
Some quick scalps this morning and I’m done for the day. Sitting at +7% for the day, time to get some work done.
SPY - 5-10%
HPQ - 10%
AAPL - 10/21 $140’s - sold several for 5-10%, holding two for a while…will probably sell today or tomorrow if they continue to get more green, currently at +15%
Just cut my last AAPL puts at 20% and done for the day, Couldn’t resist the green so I took profit. Back tomorrow
Today didn’t go as planned, I felt good and took an early position on AVGO at open (too early, FOMO) and then averaged down way too much. That damn spike to $520 right before open really fucked me up and that should have been the sign that I needed to watch for a bit. Ended up balls deep in calls that were too far out of the money for FD’s and cut for a pretty substantial loss. Completely self inflicted as I exercised no self control in my trading today and was essentially throwing money at the roulette wheel hoping it hit my number. Ended up cutting everything and closed out my trading for the day, took a 37% loss and wiped away a good week of gains plus some.
Life was busy this week and I’ve been making some very profitable trades so I thought I could do it all but I have to remember I can’t and sometimes it’s ok to take a break for a few days. I’m plain ass mentally exhausted as I write this but wanted to get some thoughts down for now and I’ll add more over the weekend or sometime next week.
I hope everyone did well today but looks like there were some that lost along with me and we have to remember there’s always another play and we can make it back. Hope everyone has a great weekend, not sure how much I’ll be on this weekend and next week as I may just take it off or take it very easy. I’m running an ultra next weekend and it’s been a bit so I need to focus on getting mentally prepared for that and deal with the other stuff going on in life right now. At the latest I’ll see you all the week of the 12th.
Finally getting back and traded a bit today, mainly SPY puts for 10-20%, was a great day. Overall ended up at +14.7% for the day and added another IRA with $2,500 in it that I gained +8% on and will be tracking a bit here as well. All the trades were small positions and was pretty stress free. Most likely going to grab some longer puts and scalp the next few days on SPY and the RR companies. Need to spend some time focusing on work so won’t be able to watch the market as much but I know I’ll be trading. Feels good to spend a little time away after some rough trades and regroup.
Scalped some SPY puts/calls this morning between support/resistance and they worked out great, not huge gains but happy with them and all about consistency. +4.65% in my trading account and +3.31% in my newly funded other trading account. Done for the day but will be back tomorrow to do some more scalps. Good luck everyone, stay green.
Had another solid day, scalped SPY puts/calls in the range we’ve been in all morning and all trades were in/out within a minute. Also scalped a few Uber puts after it bounced up this morning from it’s big drop. Done for the day @ +4.76% & +6.39%. Great week everyone, stay green today and see you all next week!
