Things Can Get Worse Than One Expected 8-16-24

 The major indices made a full recovery from the August 2nd selloff. SPX was up every day of the week. It gained 3.9%, the best weekly gain in 2024. It cut through Fib 50, 61.8% resistant levels, and back in the 5480 to 5670 balance area. SPX is above the 50, 20 DMA, and 2% from the ATH of 5669 made in mid-July. It was an incredible, face-rip rally. I thought about the possibility of a V-shaped bottom but wasn't fully prepared for it. I had to adjust my positions hour by hour because of the limited B/P.  SPX has fully recovered from the August 1st selloff.      

IBQ Netliq was back above 100K during the early rally. Delta got pushed into a negative reading after the gap up by the better jobless report on Thursday. The Netliq is down 11K, -11% from 104K to 92K. The 41K margin call on August 8 had a significant negative impact on my netliq recovery. The realized P/L is -42.3K. These SCs got squeezed deep in the red. I made a mistake in adding one SC during the early pop last week. The cash collected is -$172 for the week. I continued to buy hedges to keep the account afloat. The options' value increased by 4% from 486.6K to -504.6K. The delta went to deep red from -15 to -175. The leverage is up 11% from 619 to 715. It's highly elevated. VIX is down from down from 24 to 14.8. The total positions are C8 +0 and P8 -0. There were 44 trades for this OPEX week. The commission cost is $174. The 1-1-2 positions got slapped on the SC side like the SPX SCs. The LC hedge I bought earlier helped to roll the two 547 SCs. The XSP SCs are ITM. I plan to take stop losses if the market doesn't pull back next week. 

IBP got lopsided further with the crash and pop. I added 25K more from my IRA after IB announced the margin increase after 8-16. The realized P/L is -$419 for the week. The cash collected is $-3349. I had to spend money to roll all positions one week away before IB increased the margin over the weekend. It was a chaotic and costly week. 

Lessons and Plan:

1. I kept thinking about what had gone wrong in my trading for the last 10 months. The things I could control are the position sizes and stop losses. I couldn't be successful without either of them. 

2. Place a stop-loss order right after a position is filled. 

3. Follow the rule of -1+1 strictly. 

3. Recognize my emotions. Fear and overconfidence are both dangers. Let the urges flow through. 

4. Be objective. I should not assume the market will go my way until the criteria are met.