Weather.com says there’s a winter advisory alert in the Princeton, NJ area from 9:49 PM tonight until 10:00AM tomorrow. For Snow… Total snow accumulations of 2 to 4 inches. This evening I went to pick up some beef and potatoes for a new slow cooker recipe… and ShopRite was PACKED. I got to talking with … Read more
First things first… Don’t tell my wife. Second. I know what I did wrong, and it was SO many things. Third. Shake it off. I know it’s months of work gone, but I live to trade another day. It’s by far the largest loss I’ve ever had. 30% of my trading account evaporated in minutes. … Read more
Holiday time means we get to be sloth-like. And take an extended break from work to relax. But since it’s Monday, many are back to the office… or at least back to work. Also back to work is the stock market. After an optimistic opening at the bell, the indices slumped through the day. But … Read more
This phrase is a common description for selling high probability defined risk options strategies like credit spreads. With high probability, the capital required and risk is extremely high compared to the reward. The two NDX credit spreads I had left open overnight from yesterday was risking $9,400 to make $600. At the time of opening … Read more
But I still manage to have extremely poor timing today. As soon as I entered a credit call spread on NDX with tomorrow’s expiration, it shot up and continued a tear for the remainder of the day. At market close, my short position is at 0.25 delta & a mere 80 points from my strike. … Read more
Today was a pretty slow day. The S&P gapped up over the weekend near the all time highs and hung out there for a while, went down a little and back up. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) spoke at 2pm, but nothing happened. Overall, a very quite day. For days like this, strategies like … Read more
Today, I woke up in a good mood. It was Friday. I felt well rested. I had a good trading plan for the day. After some morning exercise, I got some coffee and waited for the 9:30 market bell. DING DING DING DING DING! Trades closed, new promising trades opened, and remaining options expired worthless … Read more
Today is day 12 that $SPY, the S&P500 index ETF has been on a green tear upwards. The Nasdaq index NDX is slowly creeping upwards while the Russell2000 index RUT is largely flat. With this kind of slow grind upwards, it is very scary to actively trade in the market. As the analogy goes, when … Read more
Today’s stock market after the opening gap up stayed largely flat. But there was still money to be made. In a flat day like today, it is the perfect opportunity for an Iron Condor. The Iron Condor is a Put Credit Spread combined with a Call Credit Spread. As long as the Short Strikes are … Read more
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority FINRA designates individual as a pattern day trader if he/she executes more than three day trades in a rolling five business day period. If you get flagged, your account is locked from trading any new positions for 90 days. (oh, tt has to also be in a margin account and … Read more