Santa Is Coming 12-23-21

 Santa finally showed up in this holiday-shortened week. SPX started to rally after retesting the B/O point of 4544 on December 6. RUT  followed the same pattern but in weaker price action. it held the lower range of the year so far and bounced out of 2120. SPX is leading the other majors. It made a closing ATH of 4725. Let's see if the Santa Rally will continue to the year-end. 

My IB Net Liq is up 28.7K to 189K, +15% with SPX up 2%, RUT up 4.5% for the week. The leverage is at 223, down 8% from last week's 244. The realized P/L is -4.3K due to the rollout of SPX, RUT bull puts on Monday before the bounce on Tuesday. The collected cash is $2637, mainly from the IF which is still not unwinded. The personal account collected $632, the 0 DTE didn't get both sides due to the strong trending days. I didn't have new directional trade for this week since it's a short week. The losing NVDA trade unwinded. A lesson of emotional trading learned. 

I put in my stop orders for my 0 DTE trades as I required last week. But I didn't execute any of the IFs. The 1 DTE on Tuesday was a winner. The 0 DTE on Wednesday was busted. I didn't follow my rule of not trading the 0 DTE IF when VIX is above 20. I overtraded in the last two days when the IF was busted. Need to keep a cool head. 

It has been the best year of my trading. I will write a year-end summary and update my trading plan for 2020. 

A Volatile Week Ended Down 12-18-21

 The market had a down week with FOMC induced volatility. The reactions after the FOMC announcement were somewhat surprising. As expected the Fed would speed up its tapering of bond purchasing program and start raising the interest rates in mid of next year. It showed a little more hawkish stand with a projected 3 rate hikes. But all the indices rallied up strongly after the Fed announcement and the conference. I was suspicious about the reaction that afternoon but glad they were rallying instead of tanking. When the futures continued to rally overnight quite strongly I was convinced the rally would continue as the beginning of the Santa Rally. I was totally wrong an hour into the market open on Thursday. The major indices reversed back to the prior day's low. It was a total bull trap on Wednesday. I had a hitch but didn't think it through and make it into a clear backup plan. This is something I need to work on. 

The IB net liq ended down 10.1K to $169,477. The leverage is up to 242 from 230. The realized P/L is $20.5K mainly due to the rollup of RUT 1870C when RUT fell back to the range low of the year. The premium collection was -$262 since I spent $1K to roll the DITM SPX 3300C, and $640 rolling NVDA 290C in panic mode after its 10% pop and before the 100% pullback. It was my biggest mistake this week. The ETP account realized $1,154 P/L. It finally unwinded the rolling positions from the Thanksgiving selloff. It's still not recovered from that 5K assignment. My directional trades lost money for the week. I had too many positions open. I didn't follow strict entry rules and limit my number of trades. In a volatile market, it's easy to lose money since the trend could change quickly. 

I only take one stop-loss this week. It was a new 1 DTE IF system I just learned. I was able to hold my urge to trade more IFs since the VIX is above 20. I must continue to work on the stop-loss setups. I know the rational reasons to do it. I must overcome my psychological fear and pain. Also, I need to train myself to recognize my subconsciousness and bring them out into clear thoughts and plans.   

A Week Of Recovery 12-10-21

 It's a turnaround week for the majors. The market shook off the Thanksgiving selloff. Jumping started on Monday. SPX gained 3.8%, ended at a daily close ATH of 4712. The intra-day high was 4743.8 which was rejected back on Nov 22. It dropped 240 points, 5.2 % until it bounced. RUT is a different story. It closed up 2.4% for the week but is still in a downtrend below its 20 SMA. The breakout in late Oct was faded back to its old range of 2275-2140. Is it a real leading indicator? If so, it's telling us something. NQ is similar to SPX with a 3.6% return for the week. It's also near to an all-time high closing. 

My IB net liq is at 179583, up 29K from last week's 150749. The realized P/L is $7,450, recovered from the loss of -$5,315. So the two-week average P/L is about 1K per week. The premiums collected are $770, thanks to the AAPL long call win. My small accounts recovered nicely with the P/L of $2,993. I am still 7-8K below the high of the year. 

My directional trades were profitable. But many trades were breakeven overall. Most of them were from Shadow Traders. The ones I selected didn't have a very clear setup in trend or breakout like longs were below 20 SMA or still in the VA. I did spend more money on hedgings during this volatile time. I have changed my view of spending money for hedging despite they didn't work out. They made me feel safer and not wait for something to happen. 

I need to continue to work on my selective setups in directional trade. Also, make sure to set stop losses for every trade I enter. I watched Ray Delio's Principles again. It's important to set goals and take a full effort to achieve them. In the process don't be afraid of failing and confront the psychological pains. The stop loss is a typical psychological pain I am afraid of.  I know the reasons to set up stop losses. It's cheaper and safer to take stop losses than keep rolling out. It takes less time and money to recover a stop loss. Period. Those deep ITM short calls are living examples and hard lessons.  

The Bears Attacking 12-3-21

It was a volatile week after the Thanksgiving selloff. SPX and NQ ended down for 2nd week while RUT booked its 4th negative weekly returns after a head fake breakout in late Oct. SPX is down 4.4% from its ATH of 4743. RUT closed at 2159, the low end of the 2021 range. It lost 12% from the ATH, into the correction territory. If the small-cap is a leading indicator then the other indices may have more room to go down. It looks more like the Christmas session of 2018. The pullback lasted until Christmas eve. 

The IB Netliq ended at $150,865 including 20K from ET. The actual number should be 130K. The leverage is above 3 again.  VIX is above 30. My B/P was below 20K several times this week. The account is still overleveraged, especially after I mistakenly added 2 SPs on Monday's fake-out. The P/L for this week is -$5315. The collected premium is $1642. The small accounts suffered losses too. The same mistakes I made with IB. The realized P/L is -11,642. It wiped out several months of my work. I got 3 assignments in SPs. 

I still traded emotionally when the vol is high. I don't have the guts to take stops. the calm market ended but I didn't adjust my practice accordingly. I warned myself to be careful in my journal for the last 2-3 weeks. I will really think it through over the weekend. 

A Big Thanksgiving Shock 11-26-21

 The Thanksgiving week started with SPX hitting another ATH 4744 but got rejected the same day. The following two days retesting the 20D SMA were held. The RUT was a different story. My note of the divergence from last week continued. It all changed on Thanksgiving night as the new virus strings were reported from South Africa. The US futures were down more than 1% across the board. The Friday's open was all in the hell falling. The volatility and fear were high during the shortened trading day. RUT is back into the 2295-2240 pre breakout range. SPX failed 4620 support area. The bull flag is broken. Is this the last pullback before the Christmas rally as the seasonal pattern or the 10% retracement like 2018 that missing from this year? I guess it all depends on how the new virus develops in the next few days or weeks. As VIX popped 50% and above 25 now, be prepared for a further drop as the worst-case scenario.  

The IB Net Liq closed at 144,764, down 25K from last week's 170K. The realized P/L is -$9,258. The premiums collection is only $760. I had an SPX 4690 assignment for $700 on Monday's bearish engulfing. The leverage is above 3.1 for the first time since early October. This is a drawdown I was anticipating and afraid of. Mr. Market often throws a curveball. My personal accounts were hit hard too. My Etrade account realized a loss of $8770. I was assigned 3 SPX 4700 puts on Monday for a loss of $4974. I tried to make it back by selling an IF 1 DTE for $2,880 premiums on Tuesday. I rolled the call side to 4705 for -$320. Thinking I would be able to recover about $2,500. Then, I sold 4670 put spread to raise 5 points for the 4705C. I thought I was going to recover from the assignment with a couple more of such trades. The sudden drop of last night put me into a further loss of $6686. I had to roll the 4670 to Dec 16 4620P with a 320X spread. My plan is to give it some time for me to make adjustments in both calls and put sides. 

My major mistakes are Monday's assignments which I could have stopped out early or bought protections for the 4700 puts. I should have entered the 4670P stops last night since SPX is trading overnight now. A small actual stop is easier to recover than a full loss rolling. 

My task for next week is to reduce the distances of my put spreads, mainly is to reduce risk and margin requirement. I must obey my rules of sizing. I broke it today with a RUT put spread for Monday. I will close it to correct it on Monday morning. 

The Indices Divergent 11-19-21

 The majors are diverging this week. DOW and RUT, the large-cap and small-cap closed down more than 1% for the week while NQ is up more than 1%. SPX is slightly up with an almost Doji candle. Are we going to see a 2018 Nov style selloff since we have not had a 10% pullback this year?  If not a pullback is most likely in next Jan-Feb based on seasonality. 

My IB Net Liq is up to 180K before I send another 10K back to ET. This is the highest level since Nov 2016. It's the five years of struggle and recovery. Keeping the size small and staying with the direction of the market are the keys. The leverage is at 239. The premiums collected are only $1650, plus $2100 from my directional trades for the week. The realized profit is 3644 from the options selling. For the personal accounts, the realized profit is $1555, mostly from the 0 DTE trades. 

Luckily, my directional trades worked well this week. The NVDA, TSLA, and MRNA paid off well over 300%. I also made repeat mistakes on order entries. I accidentally release a QQQ order meant to be looked at in the IBP account this morning. I didn't obey my rule of following my subconscious. When in doubt don't do it until my mind is clear. I did follow my rule of -1+1 and watch for deltas. 

Watch for the indices divergent next week. The Thanksgiving week could be slow. Safeguard my profit of the year. When in doubt, don't do it. 

The Bulls Pause With Seasonality 11-12-21

 All the majors closed slightly down for the week which is in the seasonal pattern. If the seasonality plays out then we may see another small down leg before the year-end rally. The Fed's tapering decision didn't even put a dent on the market. The 6% inflation jump only dragged the market down for one day. So the bulls are still running. 

IB netliq closed at 166,980, up almost 9K from last week. The leverage is 233, near the low of the year. The realized P/L is $5023, about 1K better than last week, partially due to there being no rolling of any ITM bear call. The collected premiums are only $900. The personal accounts performed steadily.  The realized P/L is $2100 after taking a $400 loss in AMD directional trades. I start feeling better trading TOS now. 

The options selling worked fine for this week. I stayed with the rule of -1+1. I stayed small with my trading sizes. The directional options didn't perform well. The TSLA rolling from a full profit last week was a mistake. Musk announced selling 10% of his own share dragged the stock down. I didn't protect my profit quick enough. Let all of the gains slip away. I was trading AMD reactively without a clear plan. It didn't have a clear direction and I was trading both sides trying to escape the chops. I ended up getting chopped on both sides. I must set clear levels for my entry and exit for my directional plays. 

Small Caps Break Out ATH 11-5-21

 It was another up week for all indices. Small caps finally broke out their range from Feb, an almost 10-month consolidation. SPX hit new highs every day this week. Dow and NQ made ATHs as well. The Fed tapering announcement seems no effect on the market sentiment. I can't follow the logic of the current market other than better earnings and the fourth quarter effect. But I will follow the direction of the market and stay with my discipline.  

IB netliq closed at 158K, about 3K higher than last week. The leverage is 257, slightly better than last week's 262. The realized P/L is $4141 with $3109 cash collected. So it's a positive week with the trend up. I didn't actively trade my small accounts in the 0 DTE, had difficulty getting fill bull puts.  I only collected $662 for the week, plus $115 from TQQQ. My directional options did well with the strong uptrend. Booked $1000 from TSLA call spread, and several hundred from FB, NVDA. My first MES 45+ DTE hit its 50% target in 10 days.  

I still have emotional issues in my trading decisions, especially with the directional trades. The two major issues are fear of losing and false hopes for a losing position. I need to be more mechanical in entry and exit.  My patience has improved some, mainly I could recognize my impatience and I would look for something else to distract my anxiety. Keep working on it! 

Bulls Are Still In Control 10-29-21

 All the three majors made new ATHs again this week, especially today after AAPL and AMZN reported lower than expected earnings and fall sharply after hour, the majors opened lower. Bulls not only closed the gaps but also pushed new highs by the afternoon. They all closed at new highs except the small-cap. It was a big surprise the majors made new highs when two out of four most valuable companies were down more than 2% each. SPX reached the century figure of 4600. I don't know how the market will react when Fed announces its tapering program next Wednesday. Are they setting up a pump and dump event? 

My IB netliq closed at 155,339 after sending another 10K to ETQ. Net-net about 2K increase from last week. The leverage is 263. The realized P/L for the week is -18,368, for the month is only 4320. The collected cash is only $1680. Rolling the 2 deep ITM short calls really hurt the numbers, plus the 3.8K losses of MRNA trades. I need to be more aggressive after FOMC's dust settled. 

The personal accounts performed steadily.  I only traded the ET account. It collected $1061 for this week, $5211 for the month. It's less than the average of the last two months. One of the reasons may be the Fidelity account transfer so I didn't trade it. I used buying back, rolling up to defend my threatened positions. It worked in mildly volatile market conditions. 

There are only two months left for this year. I must keep what's working and carefully protect what I have achieved. There has not been a 10% pullback this year so far. I am not sure if this is an exceptional year. 

  

All Time Highs for SPX, DJ 10-22-21

 What a change of mood! DJ and SPX hit record highs this week. SPX gained over 100 points in 5 days. RUT is near breaking out its current range above 2310. NQ is forming an inversed head and shoulder in the daily chart. SPX left 4 gaps below in this rally. It's usually but not unthinkable. SPX and DJ struggle to maintain at the top. Both of them formed a Doji candle today. The next couple of trading days will tell if this rally has steam. 

IB netliq closed at 163K and the leverage is down to 230. Both are in the best level for two years. The realized P/L is $6.5K. The collected premiums barely covered the big loss of MRNA. I will continue to operate carefully to not mess up the result. The personal accounts realized $950 for the week. The 0 DTE is still the bread and butter of my income for the week. I started to use more ways to defend my positions once if they are threatened. My directional trades didn't do well. AMZN and FB long CS both lost completely on the overnight tech drop. 

I followed the -1+1 rule for the week. I was able to recognize my urge to adjust my positions. I started to look at the time of the day to gauge my trade timing. I will continue to practice my directional trade but with caution. I noticed when I am confident about my entries it often turned out to be a loser. I need to stay objective and prepare for either outcome. 

Turnaround Wednesday 10-15-21

 The bulls took over after Fed Minute was released on Wednesday. The bears had the chance to push SPX below 4300. Now that SPX, NQ broke out of their downtrends in both weekly and daily charts. Only RUT is still in that muddy wedge. VIX is below 17. It looks like the downtrend from September is reversed. The seasonal pattern is in agreement with the trend now. 

My netliq is at 160K, up 15K from last week before I send 5K back to ETQ. The leverage is down to 240, the first time closed below 250 this year. The realized profit is $6022. The premiums collected are $2367 with the IF unwinded. But the overall cash collection is still -  $690 for the month. The damage of MRNA is too big. Another long call of it went to worthless from $840. The small accounts performed well after recovering from the IF of last week. It realized $5480 for the week. It's still not worth the risk to trade IF without stop. I transferred my Fidelity trade account to TD due to some technical issues with FI.

I traded twice IF in IB today which wasn't in my trade plan. It should not be allowed despite both are winners. I still don't have the habit of placing a stop order right after the order was filled. Be a pro, not a gambler. 

The Volatility Continues 10-8-21

 The market continued to be volatile this week but closed in small positive territories except for the small-cap. SPX and NQ are back right above their 20 weekly SMA while RUT is still in its current wedge. The market rallied after the US debt ceiling resolution. SPX broke its current daily downtrend but NQ hasn't. Seasonally the current downturn may be ending soon. The earnings season is starting next week. 

IB netliq closed at $145K, up 9K from last week. The leverage is 263. The options gross value is at -231K, down 9K. There appears a correlation between the netliq and the options gross value. The realized P/L is $15404, mainly from the SPX SC rolling during the p/b and the recovery on the pop. If the market resumes the uptrend I need to be more aggressive in reducing my SCs. 

The small accounts suffered a setback as I made an undisciplined IF 0 DTE trade on Wednesday. I was overconfident after SPX being choppy till noon. I knew there was a debit ceiling negotiation but wanted to take a chance. I told myself not to trade IF in the morning. Then I got frustrated when I missed the put spreads several times. I failed to stop again. Now I am spending over 20K of BP to save the original 2K position. it's a 10:1 RR. Not worth it. The realized P/L is -4165 despite 1920 cash collected. I had a mixed result in my directional trades. ST cost some losses while I missed some small gains from his alert. Some of them required too high of BP for me. My NVDA CS generated 75% returns which offset part of ST losses. 

I have to use the R/R math to enforce the stop-loss practices. Yes, I can use my Operation Twist to get out most of my losing positions. But one big shock could get me into an unrecoverable situation. It only takes two more trades to recover a 3x stop loss. It could take me 2-4 weeks to get out of a non-stop loss with a much bigger B/P. It's simple math. The problem is in my Psychological process. I can't take and admit a loss. This has to change.  

A Volatile Week and The 2nd Down Month of 2021 10-1-21

 September was a volatile and down month, the first negative month after 7 consecutive up months. SPX was down 4.8%. There were 3 of 4 negative weeks in September. The 3rd week was a head fake. RUT had a down month as well but it didn't break its weekly and monthly range. It has been in the ranges of 2100 to 2350 for 7 months but holding a bull flag after March's new ATH of 2360. The first half of Oct could be still volatile if the seasonal plays out. 

The IB netliq ended at 136K for the week, down 11.5K from last week. The leverage closed at 289, up 22 points for the same period. The realized gain is $8.7K due to rolling the two ITM calls during the downturn. My long side was hit hard which forced me to roll far out in date. The premium was -$340 due to SPXC rolling and an MRNA long call. The 0 DTE continued performing well. The small accounts realized $2253 for the week and $6608 for the month. I still have problems placing stop orders. I took too much risk in the volatile environment. It's not worth taking hundreds of dollars risk for a small gain. My rolling has worked so far. But it will hurt once if the market rally or fall hard. 

Risk control is still my weakest link. I got hit hard today with the MRNA BWB puts. It gapped down 12% on Merk's Covid pile news. All of my put legs were ITM. I miss calculated the long puts spreads yesterday. I should have added two of the long put to make it 1x2x1, instead, I only added one to make it 1x3x2. I was trying to spend about $120 less. The rare event that happened to me on bad news before the market opened. I didn't think through all of my options. Could I have rolled or break the option legs? I took a full max loss of $2800. This is a hard lesson. It will take me weeks to recover from it.   

Bulls Are Back? 9-24-21

 It was a volatile week after the previous two down weeks. SPX gapped down on Monday and closed below its 50 DMA. The price action and sentiment were bearish after another red day on Tuesday. Technically it went below August 18's low and formed a lower low. On the weekly chart, SPX  touched its Fib 78.6% from the July 19 low. One of the indicators would work in hindsight. LoL. RUT was in a similar pattern but it was below the200 SMA on Monday. FOMC on Wednesday was the changing point.  I thought the pullback was showing the FED not to be too aggressive in tapering. The majors staged a turnaround after the FOMC meeting. They all closed up for the week. However, the majors are not quite out of the wood yet. SPX is about 50 SMA but still below 20 SMA, same as the Qs. Their down trends are not broken yet. RUT is in a better shape which closed above all three MAs. Longer-term the majors are still in the uptrend. We shall see what happens next week. It may get another pullback test. Seasonally, the end of Sept to early Oct has a down thrust.  

My net liq ended at 148K. It's net up 3K exclude a net 5K from ET. The leverage is 267. The premiums collected are minimal after rolling the RUT 1790C and bought a couple of directional calls. The realized gain is -3056 reflecting some ITM LP rolls early in the week. 2-3X stops are necessary because it's not worth spending thousands to save a small amount of premium. The risk exposure is too big to carry in case of a large pullback. My small accounts did well for the week. The 0 DTE and IF were all winners for the week. ST and other directional play didn't produce much for the week. 

I still need to work on my price levels which my entries should be based on. Patience is a long-standing shortcoming of mine. Setting up the price levels and daily ranges may help me to be more patient and looking at bigger pictures. I need to work on my thought of defending the 0 DTE strategy. It's turning a credit spread into a BF or BWB if the position is threatened.   

Down Weekly - September Effects? 9-17-21

 I missed my journal for September 10th due to June's wedding in DC. It was a down week. This week the SPX, NQ, and YM  ended down again. Only the small-cap is up but in between its 20 and 50 DMA. The futures dropped further after the regular hour today. ES is below its 50 DMA and current uptrend line. The weird quad-witch price actions. SPX is a one-time frame down and back in the August pre-B/O range. The volatile September effect is in play. 

My netliq is at 140K up about 4K from last Friday. The leverage is at 282, lower than last week's 305. The realized P/L is -$1493. I only collected $420 in IB partially because I was out on Monday. The small accounts collected about $1.1K. There is about 70% of it from 0 DTE. The rest of them is from MU and AMZN directional trades. 

I followed my -1+1 rule this week. I was down so much last week and had to roll one SPX LC to late October due to the mistake. With this Sep-Oct possible correction, my long puts are venerable due to the large spreads, all three of them have between 1330 to 850X spreads. I need to find ways to reduce the spread. 

Grinding Up Into Sept 9-3-21

 The majors continue to grind higher. The new pattern of after selling has met with dip buyers. The August NFP report was much worst than expected 720K v.s 235K actual. It appeared the market wasn't scared by the results. I guess the poor numbers implied that Fed may not taper the QE any time soon. SPX made another new high of 4545, NQ hit 15699. RUT booked 2nd positive week, heading to 2300+. 

My net liq ended at $141665 after sending 5K back to ET. It is up 8K from last week. The realized P/L is $6427 with net premiums of $225 after the $1500 cost of rolling the SPX SC. The leverage is 279. The market has been up for 7 months without a 5% pullback. I have been lucky to play alone on the long side and have recovered over $100K so far. I feel that many traders are complacent again. It's likely that we will see a 5-10% pullback this fall. Controlling the size is still the key to my risk control. 

My personal accounts have done well for the week. I only traded the ET account this week. It realized $825 without much risk. The 0 DTE IF  and credit spreads worked in this slowing market. The directional trades didn't do well for me. I am still refining my setup. 

I have improved my discipline in controlling the sizes. I was able to control the urge to add or roll my positions. I missed a couple of good trades by Shadow Trade. I had to skip a couple of them due to the large margin requirement. I may sign up for another service after June's wedding by the mid of September.  

New ATH Again 8-27-21

 SPX and NQ made new ATHs again this week. SPX closed above 4500, the century figure while NQ firmly stood above 15400. The large-cap and small-cap are up for the week. RUT finally breaks out to the upside. It crossed its 50 SMA after about two months under it. The seasonality hasn't worked since June. It's playing 30% of the none seasonal time. The rally continues even the Fed tapering is in talks. 

My netliq in IB is up 2.5K after the regular 1.5K monthly withdrawal. The realized P/L is $15440 since there was no deep ITM roll for this week. The premium collected is $2500. I have reduced the total positions -1 each. I should be able to eliminate one SPX short call by next Monday. I didn't trade often in the personal accounts this week. The combined P/L is $1700. The directional options trades didn't produce much profit, but I didn't lose this week. I still have positions in AAPL, NVDA, and MU. 

I continue to work on the critical levels. I just realized that I need to use the options calculator again to get better prices for options. I also joined two more trading groups on FB. One is for short-term calendar strategies, the other is for directional stock options trading.  I want to learn and add more tools to my toolbox. 

I will practice being cautious with bias in the bull side for next week. Control of the position size is still the key. I shall strictly follow my rule of -1+1. 

A Short Pull Back 8-20-21

 The majors fall back after SPX and DOW made new ATHs on Monday. The FOMC Minutes release caused a quick selloff on Wednesday. SPX closed below its 20 SMA while RUT breached 200 SMA. The majors had big gap downs on Thursday but recovered, except RUT. Then, comes Friday's reversal. The tech-heavy NQ is the only major closed in the green for the week. The trend appears turning bullish again. Seasonally, it's a choppy month for August. Will see what happens in the next week or two. 

My IB net liq is at 135K. It recovered today from the last four down days. My portfolio is fragile in downturns. The leverage is below 3 again. The realized profit is $1262. The premium collection is only $337 after -2K rolling the RUT SC. 

I broke my rules again on Wednesday. I added one more IF which ended up deep ITM on the PM selloff. I didn't do well on my directional options. I need to be more selective and patient. I tend to be emotional in my directional trades. The 0 DTE must be rule-based as well. Spending 5-15K of BP to save a $50-80 profit doesn't make any business or mathematic sense. 

Slowly Grinding Up + Divergence in Small-Cap 8-13-21

All the majors, except the small-cap, closed in green this week. SPX and Dow made new ATHs while NQ was flagging near its ATH. SPX closed three ATHs in five days. The bulls are well alive with the $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed by the Senator. The only drag is the small-cap. It had a down week and chopped in the 2160 to 2250 range. The typical August slow market continues. 

My net liq in IB only gained about $400. The leverage is still at 295. The realized gains are $2300 for the week. There were no premiums left after spending $1200 to roll an SPX SC  and a net loss of $317 in my directional options trades. I overtraded the directional stock options this week after last week's luck. I let the loser stayed too long and closed the winner too early. The emotion behind it is the fear of losing. The fear of letting a winner become a loser and hoping the loser to become a winner. I need to study the levels and be patient for the market to play out. I missed managed the big winners, AAPL and AMD, the big loser, GS this week. I didn't trade much in my personal accounts due to the slow market. I traded 3 IFJO in ET. They are all winners due to the slow and small ranges of the SPX. I was lucky to have a quick winner in the GS call. I tend to assume a price range and target which often turned out to be wrong. 

I did well in control my trading sizes this week. I stuck to the rule of -1+1 and the bull market cooperated. I will focus on reducing the index positions. I may have to be more aggressive to reduce my position risk before a pullback coming. Also, I want to learn more about portfolio hedge strategies this weekend. I may add a new futures credit trade system in MES which uses a small amount of buying power. 

The Bull Is Still Running 8-6-21

 The Bull is tirelessly running. Every dip met with buyers this week. The NFP today was much better than anticipated, 943K vs 870K estimated. SPX inched up 0.2%, booked another ATH of 4436. RUT is back above 20 SMA, closed in the upper range of the current balance area. DOW also made an ATH while NQ was down a half percent. The divergence is noted. We may see a pullback next week if the seasonality is any indication. 

My IB netliq is up to 143K including the transfer of 5K to ET. It's up 7K from last week. The leverage is at 290. The premium collection is 2.1K. The realized profit for the week is $1.6K, excluding the other period's rolling. All of the indices positions were expired worthless. The personal accounts booked 1.08K profit. These small accounts are mainly trading 0 DTEs.

I traded directional options in AAPL, NVDA, and TSLA this week. Luckily they all returned 50%-148%. That is about $200 more than last week's ER loss. ST had some small plays this week. The best one is the TSLA long call spread which I didn't catch. I played a different strick. 

I followed the rule of -1+1 well this week. My current positive delta strategy has been working. Whenever I feel so good and confident about my results it's time to be cautious. Watch out for my risk control and set stops. The drawdown will come. I need to reduce one more SPX SC soon.   

Another FOMC Come & Gone 7-30-21

 It was a rangebound week for the majors. SPX held above 4400 and made another ATH of 4430. RUT traded the range of 2172 to 2250, the lower part of its three-month range. The earnings session continues to beat expectations. But most of the FANNG dropped after good ERs. Seasonally the August will be choppy in a lower range. 

My netliq increased 6K from last week. The deltas stayed relatively positive. The leverage is 2.9, barely below 3. The net premium collected is negative 1.8K after spent 2.9K to roll an SPX short call. The realized gain for IB is $13K.  I also wasted about $600 in playing AAPL, FB earnings, and hedging SPY, IWM. They were illy planned and emotionally executed. Overall, July is a mixed month for the IB account. The total realized P/L is -12.2K. But the acct collected $5.1 K cash. It's twice June's collection. 

My personal accounts did fair in 0 DTE. They collectively made $1.2K for the week and $5.37K for July. Risk control is still my weakness. There were a couple of trades taking too much heat. I broke my rules of 3X  stops. 

ST didn't have many trades for the week. I made a good directional trade for AMD. Had a total of 50% return in less than 15 min. But the execution wasn't done right. I had a good entry but didn't measure the targets well and exit too early. I still tend to get emotional in short-term directional trades. I will practice more for the directional breakout trades.   

From A Pullback To New High 7-23-21

 It was a positive week for the majors, recovered from the previous losing week. SPX and NQ have had a typical turnaround Tuesday and hitting new highs today. RUT is still legging and under both 50 and 20 daily SMA. It's a factor to keep an eye on. For the rest of the market, the summer rally may continue following the seasonal pattern.  

My netliq closed at 129K minus 5K from ET on Monday. It's a net gain of 6K from last week. However, the realized loss is over 11K due to roll out the ITM long puts. I collected 3.3K premiums in QIB. All of the personal accounts have a realized gain of $360. Failing to stop is still a major factor and weakness of my performance. Risking few thousand dollars to save a hundred dollars doesn't make a good risk-reward sense. 

ST only produced one good trade for me. I missed some of his calls. The result is mixed, break-even at the best.  I caught a couple good directional trades this week. I made two breakout calls on MSFT and FB yesterday. I didn't manage the exit well. My plan was to scale one out and left the other run or stop out. I exited both FB calls at 70% profit yesterday. I subjectively thought FB was running out of steam below its recent highs as resistance yesterday. It just gapped through the resistant lines and gained 5% today. It could have got me a nice 200% return. Be objective and stay with the plan. 

Is The Current Rally Over? 7-16-21

 The majors booked their 1st losing week of the last 4 weeks except for RUT which has had its 3rd losing week in the last 4. No wonder the small-cap is a leading indicator. Just not sure when the others would follow its lead. Despite the down week for the three majors, they still maintained the uptrend daily and weekly so far. The earnings season has had good results but couldn't provide support for the market. It appears the buy the rumor sell the news is in play. I will try to stay objective to see how deep the pullback will go. 

My net liq took a hit this week. It closed down to 118K from 134K last week, a 16K drawdown. The leverage is up to 353 from 296. The realized loss is 13.6K with damages in rolling both sizes of ITM positions. I have been greedy collecting premiums from IF 0 DTE. It turned out to be losses. I haven't unwinded Wednesday's LP, then I added another one today. It cost 3.7K to collect 1K. I was thinking not to trade IF today. I was fooled by the gap up open this morning. I let my discipline slipped. 

ST and my other trades didn't produce many returns either. Usually, it's those markets turning points that wipes out weeks' gains. I planned to reduce my positions for weeks in preparing for such a turning point. I missed it at the last minute due to undisciplined action. I must change my thought process and stay in the course. I need to make my subconscious into clear analyses and decisive action. I have paid enough tuition to not make better trades. 

Building A Top? 7-9-21

 The market is getting a little volatile this week. SPX made new highs but also had two down days in this short week. RUT is the weaker one. On Thursday's +1% pullback, I thought it was the beginning of a breakdown. Then, it all reversed up. The price ranges are bigger than last week. The price action and sentiment are still bullish. The best practice is to stay with the trend. 

My net liq closed at 134K, slightly down from last week. The realized P/L is -4.5K after rolling on both sides. The IB account collected $3.4K cash premiums since I used twice IF 0 DTE. I shouldn't use this tactic often. A big movement someday could get me into trouble. The leverage is at 290ish, up from the 280s. The ET and FI accounts did fair. I didn't make stops for the 0 DTE. ETP has an SC still underwater. 

ST is on vacation. There were no trades from him. His NFLX BWB made a triple gain. That offset my loss in AAPL BF which went into the money and I acted too slow. I should play safe next week. 

Five Days Of ATHs for SPX 7-2-21

 The rally continued throughout this week let by SPX and NQ. SPX booked five consecutive ATHs with a big blow-off candle on Friday after the better than expected NFP. Usually, a better job market would give Fed more room to raise rates. But the market has its own mind and destination. SPX hit my projected targets of 4330-4350 area. It was much quicker than I expected. Let's see if the bull will take a breath following the July 4th long weekend. 

My netliq closed slightly below last week's 138574. But it's 9K below the high of this week. The Delta for SPX is negative 130 while RUT is positive 156 due to its falling for this week. The realized profit is $2740. The collected premium is about $1100 but is offset by rolling RUT 1750C. I have reduced two SPX long puts, but zero RUT positions. RUT was the weaker one this week. I am running out of long-term SPX long put now. I have been waiting for a small pullback to reverse a short call. I didn't catch a good timing. 

I caught a couple of long butterflies in TSLA and AAPL. They paid off 50-100%. I failed to stop an SPX short call spread in my ET acct. I kept rolling it up but ended up deeper ITM. Luckily I reversed one last Wednesday. I had to increase the short call from one to two to move up 25 points. It's not worth it to spend thousands of BP to save a $60-100 spread. My mindset must change. It's not about one winning or losing trade. It's the process and rules of managing risk.  

A Big Rally Instead Of Pullback 6-25-21

 The majors didn't follow through with the selloff of last Friday. The futures opened higher last Sunday night. SPX and RUT 50D SMA held again. The rest of the week has been rallying up. SPX made an ATH on Thursday and closed higher at 4280.7 today. My thesis of last week was wrong. The seasonal pullback might have played out last week and short-lived. We may get into a positive July seasonally. I will keep my bias in check and stay nimble for next week. 

My net liq closed at 139.6K after sent 10K back to ET and 1.5K to BOA as my regular monthly transfer. Otherwise,  The IB account booked a realized gain of $14709. It's about 3K more than last week's loss. The premium collection is minimum after spent 1.2K rolling cost. The leverage is closed at 2.74, slightly lower than last week's 2.88. I am glad that I reduced 2 SPX puts and 1 RUT put this week and followed the rule of -1+1. 

ST had a big winner of TSLA long butterfly. It was a near 100% payoff. I made two AAPL 4X long call spread doubled as well. I missed two days of 0 DTE due to the rally. I couldn't get filled for long puts. One set of my short calls were pushed into the money. I have rolled twice so far. It was another undisciplined play, taking a 10X loss to salvage a trade is not worth it. This bad habit will bite me again eventually. I must use stop to limit my losses. 

Time for A Pullback? 6-18-21

 The majors booked a losing week except for NQ kept a small gain for this week. The FOMC statement on Wednesday was slightly less dovish indicating possible 2 rates increase in 2023. Inflation has been heating up with a 5% increase in May. The majors have been up and down since the FOMC Wednesday. They finally gave up this afternoon on this Quad Witching Friday. Most of them closed at their lows of the day. It's likely the sliding will continue in early next week at least. MACDs are turning to red both daily and weekly. 

My net liq dropped 7.5K to 136.6K this week. The leverage is up slightly to 288. I will be comfortable when the leverage stays below 3.5. The premium collected in IB is -$300 due to the cost of $1K to roll SPX 3040C. The realized profit is also negative $1.13K due to the pullback which forced me rolling ITM positions on both sides. I need to prepare for this seasonal pullback for the next couple of weeks. 

My 0 DTE trades in the other accounts performed well for the week. They are all small winners since there were no big moves this week. I have to be careful next week. There may be a big up or down day ahead. ST trades didn't produce many results for the week. I am glad I followed the -1+1 rule. Otherwise, the drawdown would have been much bigger. 

SPX Hit ATH Again 6-11-21

 The SPX finally broke out this Thursday after a worse than expected CPI report. The inflation was expected to be +4.7% for May. The actual number was reported at 5%. The market shrugged off the bad news and pushed it up across the board. SPX made an ATH of 4249, slightly above the previous high of 4245 back in May. NQ and RUT are approaching their previous highs as well. A double top scenario is still possible if the break-out is no decisive next week. Seasonally there is not much time left before a pullback in late June. 

My NL closed at 144K after I paid 5K back to ET. It's about a 1.2K increase all together for this week. The leverage is down to 2.7 v.s last week's 2.93, the lowest read for the year. The collected premium is only $340 after spent 1K to roll the RUT bear call of 1730. The realized P/L is $1.9K. It's now recovered from the drawdown of May. The small accounts continued to perform well and so far no losing trades for the 0 DTE. My long ETFs hit their targets. I am off most of my short-term ETSs. ST's Google BF call doubled. Overall, it was a profitable and lucky week. However, my RUT SC was pushed through by 81C in the last minutes today. I will try to recover the $90 next week. 

I need to stay nimble and small next week. I closed 2 each long puts in SPX and RUT. I followed my rule of -1+1 this week. It must be the same rule to obey for next week.  

Another Up Week 6-4-21

 The majors closed another up week. SPX, YM, and NQ are within 1-2% to make ATHs. RUT is legging but also made a 2nd up-week and closed near 2300, at the high of its current range. There is still a double top scenario if the majors couldn't break out decisively to the new highs. We are still facing the possibility of a mid-June pullback seasonally. Therefore, This breakout may not last long. 

My net liq is up 7K and closed at 137K. The leverage is below 300 since early May. The realized P/L is 7K, partially recovered from May's loss. The IB account collected 1.7K in this Memorial Day shortened 4 day week. It was a profitable week for the small personal accounts too. The 0 DTE were all winners although I didn't catch all the trades in the three available trading days. Made a couple of ST trades and my own ones. 

I followed my -1+1 rule closely this week. I was able to reduce 2 SPX long puts and moved two of the long-dated positions into next week. My plan is to reduce my exposures for a coming pullback. 

In A Holding Pattern 5-28-21

 The majors are in a holding pattern after Monday's surge. The rest of the week was choppy and slow. However, they all closed in the positive territory for the week and stayed above their 20 and 50 SMA. They are in the bullish pattern but the previous highs are not broken. Therefore there is still a possibility of a double top at play. So be prepared for different outcomes next week. 

My IB netliq recovered some to close at 130K v.s 118K from last week. The leverage is down to 322 from 368. It's still vulnerable but a little better. The premiums collected are $5.4K due to no bear call rolling for the week. The realized P/L is $16K. Overall, May booked a loss of $26K v.s a gain of $14K in Aprile. Overall, my delta stayed positive while the majors were moving up slowly. 

The 0 DTE performed well this week. The Vol is falling and the market is slow. I didn't chase for entries and missed a couple of trades. That is OK. Learning to be patient. I start to set price alerts for my rolling or entries. I didn't do any IF 0 DTE due to the low buying power in the IB acct.  

The Follow Through & Turn Around 5-21-21

 It was a mixed week for the majors. SPX, RUT, and DOW booked a slight loss but way off the lows while QQQ inched up a little. The selloff continued on Monday and intensified on Tuesday. Then, the bottom appeared on Wednesday. SPX and RUT challenged their 20 SMAs but failed to close above it. Overall, it's an inside week for all the majors. It's hard to tell what's ahead for next week. If the seasonality plays out it would be a stable or breakup week. However, the seasonal lower lows haven't played out yet. Not sure which leg comes first. It's the game of probability. 

I didn't trade well this week. I panicked on Tuesday night's gap down. I made another Risk Reversal early Wednesday morning. SPX started to turn by mid of Wednesday. I didn't reverse it back. I couldn't turn it back due to the margin limit on Thursday. This mistake was originated when I broke my rule of not add a new position unless there is one out. I added one on Tuesday thinking that Monday's high was the beginning of a new rally. Now I have 3 short calls in SPX which erased all of my effort of reducing the sizes. I may have to spend $6-8K to close one next week. I plan to only roll one to late June for the expected downturn. I reduced one SPX put by combining 2 to 1 to next Monday. 

Shadow Trader's trades didn't do well this week. The QQQ debit calls lost about $300 today. I pick a couple of short-term options in AAPL and RIOT barely breakeven. The 0 DTE has been working for me this week. I got all winners in my other accounts. The key is being selective and not chasing it. I won't play it when the volatility is high. 

My goal for next week is to stay calm and be disciplined. I will work on reducing the number of positions before mid-late June. 

The First Wave Of Selloff 5-14-21

 The Monday reversal after last Friday's ATH in SPX and YM caught me and many others by surprise. The big money took the market to new highs after the poor unemployment and new job reports last Thursday and Friday. I thought the unusual surge might have delayed the expected pullback in May as the seasonality trend indicated. The 4% selloff during the first three days of this week was really sharp. Could the Thursday and Friday's rally play another trick to retest the b/o point, then push down again? Seasonally it's possible and likely. May has about a 65% chance to close positively during the last 20 years. So be prepared for a tough month. 

My net liq come down to 108K from last week's 141K, -33K. The realized gain is -43K since I had to roll so many long puts further out. I made a big mistake of moving some SPX longs closer after last Friday's ATH. I was planning to reduce my longs before the pullback. It didn't work out. Not only I was hit on the long side I was forced to reverse an SPX long to short due to the netliq below 100K during the 2% selloff on Wednesday. I failed to prepare to make stops for my recovery trades. My plan is to stop out at 2X of the premiums but I never enforced it. It could have saved me a big margin crunch and a wire transfer of 10K from ET. 

There were not many good trades to report this week. Shadow Trader stayed on the side line mostly since last week which was a very smart move. My short IWM and SPY paid off but they were small. I exited half of my SQQQ with a little profit. I have not been able to do well with these leveraged ETFs. 

Be prepared for some rough rides this summer. Stay calm!

The Bulls Are Back 5-7-21

 This week started with some selling pressure for three days. The 20 EMA was tested and held. Thursday was a big turnaround in the last 30 minutes before closing. The poor NFP report (260K v.s. 1million jobs) became the catalyst for the majors to book gains. Dow and SPX made ATHs again. SPX firmly closed above 4200. It was to my surprise that SPX made a new high before the summer begins. The seasonality chart does show there could be another push before mid of May. 

My net liq closed at 141K from last week's 135K. The leverage is at 283. The IB main account collected $2250 premiums after spending $2200 on rolling 3000C and SQQQ. I dealt with my SPX SC poorly yesterday and today. When they got blown off I spent most of today working on different orders hoping there would be a decent pullback. I was practicing my patience waiting until 3pm before rolling my positions. I ended up splitting my short calls of 4235 to ICs amount three of my accounts with similar positions. In theory, there will be only one side that could lose. That reduced the margin requirement in my personal accounts. The rolls in IB main account increased 3 C and 2 P in my SPX. Need to watch the number of positions and risk closely now. The market is sailing into the stormy zone. 

I didn't have many trades with ST or my own outside of the indexes for the week. I still don't have a good trading system for individual stocks. I trade 0 DTE and adjusting my old ones on M, W, F. I should use Tue and Thu for different trades. 

The Time of Change Has Come? 4-30-21

 The majors had mixed results this week. Most of them are down for the week except NQ. SPX booked a small loss after 5 consecutive weekly gains. Overall, the market had a very good gain in April. The earning season has been mostly upbeat but the big money reacted mute or selling on the news. May could be choppy or to the downside seasonally. I need to plan and play it accordingly. 

My net liq ended at 135K after sending another 10K back to ETP. The leverage is at 292, below 300 for another week. The realized profit for the week is near 13K. The month of April is only over 14K. The IB account collected 7.2K cash which is much better than March's $804. I have been enjoying the good result that Mr. Market provided while I can. My SPX is better positioned for a downturn than RUT. I may need to switch a RUT long put to SPX to keep it more balanced. 

The ST and my own trades are better than last week. I played AMZN earning with butterflies on both sides. The positions were poorly planned. The long calls were too close to the money while the puts were too far out of the money knowing the result would be positive. Luckily AMZN pulled back today after a big surge in the after-hour earnings release. The big lesson from my TSLA BWB loss is not to blindly follow any expert's play. I am an experienced trader. I should have known it better. When in doubt don't do it. 

The Bulls Are Back Again 4-23-21

 The majors opened down on Monday and followed through on Tuesday. It was the seasonality at play. I didn't expect the pullback was such short-lived. The majors turned around on Wednesday. There was a mid-day 1-2% selloff on news of a possible capital gain tax increase. The losses were erased on Friday. The market ended in green for the week with ups and downs swings. 

My net liq is up 6K to 136K. The leverage is 294. A good level to be below 300. The realized profit is 4.8K due to now rolling for the DITM short calls. The 2-day selloff shown the vulnerability of my portfolio. My deltas are long with the trend. Luckily the selloff was short-lived. I will stick to my rule of no increasing positions. Stay with -1+1 but keep the delta long as long as the trend is still up. 

The index options ended well. I collected about 4K premiums. Most of the options went worthless today. The result of directional trades was mixed. The Apple call spreads were closed nearly the full profits. But the Tesla long butterflies went to worthless. The net was a loss. I have learned a couple techniques for defending underwater butterflies. 

Another Week of ATHs 4-16-21

 The majors booked another up week. SPX, NQ, and YM hit ATHs again with the fourth consecutive green wk. The small caps are still legging but up for this week. RUT/IWM is in a weekly and daily wedge and above both 20 and 50 SMAs. It could break out in either direction. Seasonally, we could see a pullback between last and this week. RSIs and MACDs are in overbought territories for the three majors. I wouldn't be surprised to see a mild pullback in the coming week. 

My net liq closed at 135K after sending another 5K back to ET. The leverage is at 301. The realized P/L is -8.9K due to the rollout of the SPX 2900 short call. I collected about $3.6K premiums in QIB acct. The ST and JO5K trades were mixed bags. ST trades had some losers and winners. The result is probably break even for the week. The AAPL and SPY call spread expiring next week are likely winners. The JOIF produces 3 winners this week due to the low vol conditions. I blindly followed the JO5K and the Ops Playbook in NVDA and TSLA IC and the short call made me sweat and underwater. I learned some recovery technics through these trades. I was able to turn the NVDA to profit by adding a long call spread. I am still underwater in TSLA. I rolled my call spread to next week to see if TSLA will continue to move up before its ER on 4/26. 

I haven't added any new trade services this week. I have learned some technics of trading individual stocks' options, mainly broken wing butterflies. There ways to recover a threatened BWB. My weakness is still taking decisive action in a timely manner. The TSLA BWB was a good example. If I had added a long call or a long call spread I could have reduced the losses instead of rolling it out. Any open position is an uncertainty factor. 

New SPX ATH Of 4128 4-9-21

 SPX and DJ continued to make new ATHs. SPX was up 4 out 5 days and gained over 100 points for this week. NQ and RUT were catching up. NQ was up every day for this week while RUT is the weaker one. It still struggles between its 50 and 20 D MA. SPX and YM appear to be extended while NQ and RUT have rooms to run or they could drag SPX and YM back down. The earning season will start next week which could bring some volatility back. Seasonally, we may see a pullback to retest the breakout areas in the next week or so. 

My net liq is flat at 135K range. The realized G is 1K, probably dragged by RUT. The leverage is at 3. The index options did fairly well for the week. I haven't been able to trade 0 DTE in the personal accounts. Shadow Trade took some small losses on its directional bets. But APPL long calls should offset the losses. I took a full-blown loss of $800 on GOOGL BWB following JO's 5K trades. It gapped up 4% on Monday and took out all the strikes. I didn't actively look for ways to offset the losses until the late part of the week. JO didn't update this trade until Thursday. I shouldn't wait for his either. I must actively manage my risk. 

I failed to take stop loss on my IF-JO on Monday. I didn't follow the rules and added one more on top of the first loss. I ended up reversing the 2 short calls. They finally got closed today. I was lucky because the uptrend continued. But a mistake is still a mistake. It will hit hard once I relax the rules. 

SPX Hit 4000 ATH 4-2-21

 It was a green week for the majors. SPX closed at 4020, above the 4000-century mark while RUT and NQ are catching up as well. They both closed above their 50, 20 SMA respectively. President Biden announced a 2 trillion dollar infrastructure plan might have boosted the market sentiment. The seasonality is in play too. The bulls are in control once again. 

My net liq closed above 136K even after I paid another 5K back to ET on Wednesday. It would have been over 141K.  The leverage is at 289, a relief sign when it's below 300. I maintained my rule of not increasing my total contracts and kept delta positive. My profit or recovery in IB is $5500 for the week. I did a RR of SPX SC. It was the right decision but bad timing. I wasn't patient enough to wait after 3PM to execute my plan. I could have earned several hundred dollars if I waited, so was for the RUT recovery trade. 

I made a couple of side trades besides the majors with Shadow Trader and JO. Most of them are small winners when the trend is followed. I am thinking about changing the 0 DTE to 40-50 DTE with a 50% profit target and 3X stop. This strategy is slower but less stressful. I still don't have a well-planned breakout strategy. 

The Tide Turned In The End 3-26-21

 It was a volatile week, to say the least. SPX swang for 120 points while RUT went through a wild ride of over 200 points. SPX had a big reversal on Thursday and Friday. It closed at 3974.5 nearing the ATH of 3983.8. It's at the top of its weekly range now. On the other hand, RUT is in the lower weekly range and far from its ATH. It closed the second week in red despite the reversal in the last two days. It closed right at its 50 D SMA. QQQ is also below its 50 DSMA but closed above 20 SMA today. The devergences should a factor to watch. April tends to be a positive month seasonally. 

My net liq went through the same swings with the market. It ended at  127K after sending 5K back to ET. The IB account realized 14K profit or more like recovered 14K, slightly better than last week. The leverage is at 319. 

The leaning to the bull side bias is working but was pressured over the big swings in March. The 0 DTE worked OK this week as I am not chasing fills. I am OK with missing a trade. I also had two winners with JO IF. It's a quick trade, win or lose. I will stop trading JO's stock spreads. It's a bit too stressful to sell individual stocks. I will continue to follow and learn his butterflies and other types of trades.  

The Bond Rate Pressures The Market 3-19-21

 The bulls didn't go too far. Both SPX and RUT rallied last week and briefly made new ATHs then fall back in their previous ranges. The media citing the reason is caused by the ten-year bond rate. Tech sectors got hit again. There may not be a meaningful rally without tech participation. Their price actions also seemed to match the seasonality. We will see if the seasonal pattern will play out with a surge in late March. 

My portfolio made a nice improvement. The net liq is at 132K after I paid another 10K back to ET.  I haven't seen this level since January 2020. This week's realized gain is 13K building on the 36K gain of last week. The total gains of the 2 weeks covered the losses of Feb plus the 1st week of March. The leverage is also down to 3.1. I plan to pay another 5K back to ET next week that will make it even for 2021 so far. Of course, I have a long way to go to unwind the deep ITM bear calls. I will continue to balance my delta without adding much portfolio risk. Control the total number of contracts helps a lot. 

I didn't trade much 0 DTE this week due to the price swings that some of my orders didn't get filled. I wait for the prices to come to me and tried not to chase them. I found that 1 DTE may work better if I enter it in the late day. I need to review my old documents. I traded some Shadow Trader and JO 5K. The gains were minimum but learning their styles and keep me more productive.  

The Bulls Are Back 3-12-2021

 The majors booked a green week in the last 4 weeks except for YM which had two weeks. SPX and RUT both recorded new ATHs. RUT has decisively broken out to the new high with near 2% above while SPX just hit the new high with about 10 points but didn't close above the Feb high. Let's see if SPX could follow RUT to make a decisive breakout and break the double top. NQ is far behind the others. It broke out its downtrend and held above it for the 2nd day. But NQ is still below its 50 D MA. Would NQ play catching up or drag the other majors back? 

My net liq recovered handsomely. It ended at 129K after I paid 15K back to ET. The leverage is at 314. Both levels haven't been seen for more than 6 months. I may be able to pay back the 15K loans from January within this month. I think the two risk reversals from bear calls to bull puts that were inline with the uptrend helped. Seasonally the market is back into a bullish period. The rising bond rate is still a concern. But the market tends to climb a wall of worry. 

I finally unwinded the bad 0 DTE trade I made in ETP. The failed stop gave me weeks of pain. I must take the day stop as part of normal trading instead of enduring long-term pain. It will be my turning point in trading. Look at the success stories in the FB group. I can do it if the others can. It takes some self-discipline and change of thinking. 

Surviving A Rough Week 3-5-21

 The majors booked their 3rd losing week. It hasn't happened since the last Feb-Mar pandemic crash. They closed well above the lows this week. The daily movements were volatile this week. Monday was a big up day then followed with three sharp down days. Today was a reversal day. It may start to calm down for now. 

My net liq took another hit as the majors continued falling most of the days. It swings over 10K daily and falls below the baseline often. The leverage was over 5 too. My mistakes of last week continued hurting my net liq. I had to borrow another 15K from ET P to cover my shortfalls in IB. I had to spend $1700 to roll my deep ITM puts and $650 for a weekly hedge due to the sharp selloff. I only recovered about $700 of it last Friday. It's my experience that such ill-timed new positions take several weeks to get resolved. The big reversal this Friday may have put a temporary low for this downturn. The current events such as the pending pandemic relief bill and the treasury rate will continue to cause market swings. 

The Shadow Trade and JO5K didn't work well this week. I voided some trades from ST due to the required large margins. I took a 4x loss on NVDA from JO5K partially due to my indecision of taking stops. 

The Senate just passed the $1.9 trillion Covid-19 Relief bill as I am writing it now. Could the market sell on the news or keep Friday's upswing going?  

Self Inflected Wounds 2-26-21

 The majors took bigger losses for the 2nd week of the seasonal pullback. It was dragging and pulling on daily. The broken-down highs were retested on Wednesday and failed from there the next morning. SPX closed weaker than RUT. It parked right at 50 SMA with a gap below at 3770 area. RUT is below 20 MA but above 50 MA.  Not sure how the majors will react to the 1.9 trillion relief pack. It may have been priced in already. The majors are in a bearish posture. They may have to run their own courses before resuming the uptrend. 

My portfolio took a big blow this week. NL closed at 93K. The current available funds are dangerously low at 7300. I have to reduce or combine my long put the first thing on Monday morning. The last result may be to wire more funds from ET. That would put my ET acct in danger too. 

I made two critical mistakes this week. On Wednesday I rolled in one each put of SPX and RUT without waiting for the confirmation of breaking the double tops. The mistakes contributed to more than 10K losses and reduced buying power. I need to be more patient and waiting for confirmation instead of affected by emotions. Setting price levels will help me to measure the market's directions. 

The Seasonal Pullback In Progress 2-19-21

 The majors closed down for the week, except DJ formed a Doji. They haven't had two consecutive down weeks since last Oct. Today was a gap and crap day that I wasn't prepared for. The O/N gap up made me think it was a reversal up day. But the monthly options expiration day turned into two-way price action. The pullback may not end yet base on the lower closing today. 

My net liq improved a little this week, ending at 112K. The leverage is at 403. I should have over 50K excess liquidity for the weekend. Delta is positive in the 80s. This could be a problem if the selloff deepens. 

My trades are positive overall. I didn't encounter a stop-loss situation to test my disciplines. I am including the rollovers in my 2-3X stop-loss plan as well. I didn't play many 0 DTE trades since I have been working on resolving my last JOIF fallout. The long put is out but I got sucked into a bad risk reversal I did today. I misjudged the o/n gap up and acted with FOMO. 

Shadow Trade is working with small gains. I have learned some new options strategies. I picked up some JO5K trades for a learning purpose. Need a more solid system to turn around. 

A Quick Turnaround To New Highs 2-5-21

 It was a complete turnaround week from the selloff last week. The majors took off on Monday and hit new highs this week. SPX and RUT closed at 3387 and 2333 ATHs respectively. It appears the Feb seasonality is in play. There could be another leg down to retest last week's low before resuming the uptrends if the seasonality holds true. However, the MACD and other technical indicators just turned positive from last week. I will keep both possibilities in mind. 

My net liq improved a little at 103K. The leverage is at 4.52. I was expecting a double top so I placed some short calls in SPX and RUT which burned me today. I am still struggling with my stops. I had to roll some of my SPX and RUT short calls as they were deep ITM today. If I had stopped them at 3X it wouldn't have caused me these 10x losses. One thing I was able to do is that I reversed one short RUT 1420 to long call out to 2900 in Sept on Monday. This risk reversal saved me from the big rally this week. I have to work down the strikes like I have been doing with my SPXs. 

I realized that the major factor that blocked me from turnaround my trading is not to make stops. I won't be able to do the work successfully without following the rules and the basic math. Period! I will follow JO in FB for his 5K trading practices. I want to learn his various strategies. Stick to it. 

The Tide Has Changed 1-29-21

 The majors incurred a big selloff this week after making new highs on Monday. It was sudden but within the seasonality. SPX lost about 4% for the week while RUT shredded off 5.5%. Feb could be a difficult month historically. 

My net liq is on the borderline of 100K. The leverage is up to 480. No major improvement is insight. Both sides are deep ITM. 

I got caught in a bad IF 0 DTE trade on Monday. I failed to make a stop in both IB and ET account. I was overconfident the puts would have worked when SPX broke out to ATH on Monday. But the tide changed on the next day. I kept making the same costly mistakes. It costs thousands of dollars every time. A bad habit is so hard to change. Am I self-sabotage? Got to take the short time pain instead of the long time suffering. This is the main roadblock for me to turn around my career. 

The Bulls Are A Little Tired 1-22-21

 The majors booked another week of ATHs. The catalyst was the peaceful presidential power transfer which removed one of the risk factors from the market. After it, the majors have been resting for the last two days. The uptrend is still intact although it appears stretched. 

My net liq is almost unchanged at 106K. The leverage stays on the high side of 446. I can't keep up with the rally, especially with the RUT. It has gone up 10% since the Nov election. I am still walking on the edge of a cliff. Now SPX is delta positive while the RUT is negative. A big move in either direction will put me in trouble again. 

My 0 DTE is working somewhat. My biggest problem is still the taking stops. It's a bad habit that hard to shake out. I always come up with excuses to void taking stops when facing it. It has to be a hardline. The other directional trades haven't done well. They are profitable but the sizes are too small. I need to sign up another aggressive one. 

A New Year, Same Conditions 1-15-21

 I am back in writing my weekly reviews after the holiday season. The beginning of another year continues with the previous year. The pandemic and political divisions are still the same. The bulls keep defiant realities. Records highs were booked until early this week. The seasonal weakening started to show up in the last couple of days. 

My net liq went below 100K on the first trading day of the year. It was a big down day. I spent $8K to roll up my short calls so far this month. That hurt my already weak net liq. I had to borrow another $15K from ET to defend my IB account. This seems a vicious cycle. It keeps sucking my fund in. Now the number of ITM contracts is less but deeper. I need to spend time to figure out the edge of my risk and solutions. 

Most of my 0 DTE were winners this week. My biggest problem is that taking stop losses. The fear of short term pain still outweighs the required discipline. I also decided to stop trade my FI account as a safety measure.