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.