Just a Day Trader

 I have got to slow down. I am destroying my account by day trading everything, adding to fast, not knowing actual risk, not respecting my actual risk, not letting stocks work, not taking wins off for wins and letting them run all the way to -1R and then some. Really bad trading lately. I am gambling and its not ok. Its not who ive been as a trader and it needs to stop. I need flow charts of if then statements going all the way back to basics.  I am WAY caught up in momentum trading, risking like it and taking huge hits not letting stock work itself out. I have stopped doing what has been working for me and have resorted to trying to get that quick money, with full size, like the stock has proven itself strong. It is not a momo market right now. There are momo names to trade for sure, there are stocks that still make those kinds of moves. But it is not more often than not. It is 1 or 2 a day. So when my watchlist is 10+, its safe to expect that they wont pop and be gone withou...

 Struggle bus lately. Need to get things off my chest/mind. The month so far hasnt been bad. Up a little bit. 2 huge wins on AMZN and PVH keeping me positive still. This last week though has been tough. Lots of losers. Monday started off 0/10 with 100% compliance. I think that right there should be a warning sign of whats to come in the market. This last week I lost 14R. 1st week made 20. AMZN PVH alone made me 15R/+2200$ off of 315$ of risk. My best trades this week totaled +915$ and +14R off of only 200$ of risk. Still have a TMUS trade im swinging which should bring this up ~+$1300 and ~+19R but well see. Also this trade only off of 81$ of risk. This week my risk feels off. Im back in that spot where my best wins are off of low risk. Sometimes thats just how it is, sometimes its me not calculating my risk fast enough or correctly.   Looking at my losers and big wins, some things the big wins all have in common: -Good option volume + spread -Good High stock volume -High...

JANURARY Best Month of my life. Inside and outside trading. Got married. Caught a ton of major short pops, huge quick P/L moves. Nothing to complain about. Still a bit upset as I traded a lot of those with a scalpers mindset still, not quite willing to hold them as long as I should have. I have since recognized themes in the market and how I need to be trading around them. If theres a theme, and the stock acts right, and continues to act right, no reason not to hold as long as I can overnight.   Was about as 'easy' as trading can get. Until... FEBRUARY Bad month. Part of it I was not in superbowl sunday mode everyday. I returned to trading after the honeymoon and promptly lost my ass pretty quick. Breaking lots of rules trying to get back in the swing of things and got crushed holding a trade big size overnight through earnings. -3k new biggest loss of career.  But it was fine. More lessons to be learned.  1st and foremost, I hadnt traded properly in a few weeks to a...

 Its time for a post. The start of the year I started off hot. Market hot, crazy moves everywhere. I was capitalizing and seeing good gains, all while still learning what I need to be doing with regards not only to options, but to swing trading itself. This past week+ since I got back from my honeymoon, trades have not been going well. I have been catching some great wins, but ultimately giving back 60-70% of max P/L on majority of my wins. My average in Feb is capturing 37% of the total move, and even worse this past week its only been 31% with days as low as 15%.   The market obviously has a new theme with these major downgaps but before these gaps were happening, my breakout trades were getting stuffed HARD. Take a look at EGHT, MMYT, any EV name, CBAT, plenty of others. Breakouts simply would not carry over into next day or two. So i got killed on a lot of overnight holds. I would be up 5/6/7R on day 1 of the breakout, then the overnight would gap lower and kill the t...

 Very good start to the year. Excellent market conditions, excellent reads. Clear themes, lots of volatility. Seems like a great indication of whats to come. NUMBERS +$18,950 +111.4 R 53/114 37% WR 81% Compliance 43 -1R 23 More than -1R Avg Win  +$540 Avg Win Risk $137 Avg Loss -$106 Avg Loss Risk $126 P/L Ratio 5.08 Avg Risk $130 Expectancy $131 10 Winning days Avg Win Day +$2275 Avg Loss Day -$552 So let me start by saying I love options. I switched this month to trading the way I feel like trading. That meant abandoning trading shares. Giving up on scalping and trading based off of daily charts, and changing my expectations from short holding periods, to longer holding periods.  Trading options allows me to trade the action of the stock, rather than the price of the stock alone. When I traded shares I was obsessed with the pennies. I could not, for years, let myself trade allowing the stock to explore past my stop level to see if it would fake out or not. I went back a...

 I do not have a lot of time this weekend to make a bigger post so im going to shorten this one up. SPY QQQ DIA IWM had there 1st sign of a pullback this friday. Broke under the previous range and tested lower. Had weak open and weak close. Im thinking we have a short at gapping lower and testing lower again VIX continuing to get tighter, had a nice pop on friday going into mini breakout levels into TL.  FNGS continues getting tighter relative to SPY. Gotta make a move one way or the other.  MGC a similar pattern Tech is not a pretty sight, Looking like a failed breakout. Rolling back under with TL loss.  Communications industry breaking big time zone. But look at how little that volume is. Comparing to others, what should one expect from this. Internet index also looking like a rollover happening into TL.  Financials reaching new ATH from 08 crisis is a big deal. But again look at that volume. This is a monthly chart so im a bit ahead of myself, but considering...