S&P Is Near All Time High Again 10-25-19

The majors have been grinding up for this week with some batter than expected earnings reports. Bulls are buying every dip. All three majors are only 0.5-2% away from their all-time highs except the small-cap RUT. I am puzzled why they didn't take out the highs before FOMC next Wednesday. Are they waiting for the FOMC to determine the next move, up or down?

Net liq stayed above 150K. The leverage is at 360. The slow grinding upmarket is less threatening than the continued falling market. I am glad that I was able to exit out 5 long puts which give me rooms to roll up my short calls when the pullbacks come.

My rule of not adding more positions is working so far. The net liq seems to stabilize. I haven't needed to add more hedges on the expiration dates for the last couple of weeks. Could it be because of the low vol environment?  Many of my ETF directional positions have not worked since they are mostly bear positions. I need to be able to flip my market views and act quickly.

The Majors Turned Up On Trade Talk & Fed REPO 10-18-19

I missed writing my journal last week due to my daughters back home.  The majors actually turned up late last week on the progress of US-China trade talks. Fed also announced to inject funds to banks or it's a type of QE 4. The majors explored the daily value area from the top to bottom in both SPX and RUT. FIB levels could be used for references too.

Net liq closed above 150K after I sent 5K back to ET. The leverage is at 3.6 mainly due to the rangebound market. The overall market is still bullish. SPX is challenging 3K again. Earnings reports are better than expected so far. I want to adjust my portfolios to the positive side.

The approach of controlling the number of positions is having a positive impact so far. It should reduce leverages as the size reduced. It may take longer to unwind the portfolio since I don't add leverages to the opposite side. I don't have a full understanding of the approach yet. May have to experience a couple of volatile periods to see how it works. In the meantime, my ETF trades have worked well so far. It will take more time and practice to get it right.

Break Down On 1st Of Oct 10-5-19

Like the last couple of months, the majors made a big move on the first of the month. September was an upturn while August and October started a downturn. The majors fall about 3% in two days with weaker than expected economic data. The ISM manufacture and service indexes both were lower than expected. The NFP on Friday was about 10K less than expected but the majors bounced up 1% following Thursday's bottom buying tails. The market is anticipating another Fed rate cut soon.

I was still somewhat emotionally reacted to the two-day selloff early in the week and didn't anticipate the quick bounce in the last two days of the week. The key mistake I made was that I broke my rules by adding a position to my PSX long put on Monday. I was hoping or gambling. Although I did have a position exited before adding this 2950P. I knew I shouldn't add the same strike back. The key to my account recovery is to reduce the number of positions. Stay disciplined is still my biggest weakness. The majors are forming a wadge in daily. It should break out one way or another on trade talk and Fed.

Net liq is below 150K but recovered from earlier losses. The leverage is at 378. I have been spinning the wheels in the mud for most of the year. The 35K paid back is about 1/3 of the 100K borrowed. I need to put in my outside box new strategies soon. I have been trying the ETF add-on on small scales. It won't help the portfolio much with the sizes. I will continue to work on my "Rules of Reducing Leverages".