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.