S&P All Time Highs 8-28-20

 S&P gapped up on Monday making all-time high. It made new highs every day this week and closed above 3500 today. An incredible over 100 points run this week. NQ is leading all the majors, 2000 points above last Feb's high. RUT was lagging but kept its bull flag formation. SPX has had only two down days so far in August. The market can go extreme in both directions. I will stay with the trend until it turns. 

My netliq closed 107K which is slightly lower than last week. The leverage is at 4.4. I have been aggressively selling long puts on every expiring date in SPX. It helped to ease the pressure from the bull run. My 0 DTE was doing well until this Wednesday. First I was being greedy on QII's IF trades. I moved my profit target when it hit my ET acct. Then SPX exploded to the upside and put me into losing territory. I then added another IF at a higher price in the hope of recovering which wasn't in my plan. I didn't make a stop first to limit my loss. Then I was hoping the market would pull back in the afternoon. I didn't apply the needed discipline to take stop loss at the predetermined % levels. It cost about $3500 all together instead of about $600-800. Another hard lesson. The stop must be firm and mechanical, not the last moment hope and 2nd guessing. 

I need to look for another directional trading strategy after I canceled the day trading options service. I don't have a good candidate so far. May have to do some research this weekend. 

Bulls In Control, Divergence Continues 8-21-20

 SPX and NASDAQ made ATHs this week. It's the first time for SPX to break 3390 since its Feb high. All of the majors closed higher except for the small-cap and the financial sector. Need to watch how the divergence between the big caps and small caps playing out in the days to come. 

My net liq is up to 110K after I aggressively added long puts and collected a nice chunk of premiums. The leverage is at 4. I have spent about $8K to roll up two deep ITM short calls. I haven't got much relief for the last 4-5 weeks since the majors kept going up. My plan is to deleverage at least a half of my positions before the election. 

I stopped trading the directional short term options this week. The 0 DTE strategy has worked well in the summer slow time. The daily ranges are really small. I added Iron Fly to deal with the small ranges. It works so far. Shadow Trades took a couple losses this week. I have learned a couple new tricks. 

Waiting For A Trigger? 8-14-20

 SPX didn't break out to a new high this week. It closed up slightly but struggled. RUT was up a little this week while formed a shooting star weekly. Gold and silver sold off. The 10 yr treasury yield is above 7 now. The signals are mixed. The pending stimulus package may be the reason that the majors are in holding mode. Let's see what next week will bring. It's still a strong uptrend. 

My netliq recovered somewhat. It's closed near 105K. The leverage is at 4.4. QII account realized $5.5K profit after spending $5.8K to roll two deep ITM bear calls. I traded 2 0DOE this week. I couldn't get any fill on either side today since SPX only traded a 17 point range. I didn't chase it. I don't have to trade every day. I didn't trade much of the directional options either. It's not really my style. 

I will start to look for another service next week. I need to step out of my comfort zone. I am still selling premiums as my major income. It works well in a range-bound and uptrend market. It will suffer when a correction comes. 

S&P heading to ATH? 8-7-20

 The majors booked another up week. SPX closed above the Feb 17 gap. RUT is above its June high. The bulls are in charge, climbing the wall of worries. SPX is only about 50 points away from its ATH. It's likely to make new highs following NQ's path. 

My netliq suffered 13K reduction due to the negative delta. I added so many short term long puts but didn't help much. I still have the underlining worry of a sudden drop as the SPX trying to close the Feb gap. The leverage is up to 4.65 now from below 4 last week. I did collect $2700 premiums despite spent $1380 to roll a RUT short call. 

I have learned more ways to trade options. Shadow Trader is methodical and risk-adjusted. I decided to cancel the Insight Options. The day trading options method is not really my style. The SPX 0DTE is working in this rangebound market so far. I didn't have to make a stop this week. But I am still recovering from the two failed stops. A hard lesson learned. 

I am still struggling with ways to reduce my long term ITM options. I want to get it done before Oct before the election. I need to make a clear goal of what to do next. A presidential term is almost over but my situation hasn't changed much.