My Trading This Week

I always dislike trading options expiration week. Choppy, false moves, gaps... not easy. This week I decided to really reign myself in and only trade small amounts and trade only 'sure' set ups. There are no 'sure' set ups, but there are better plays than others. And I tried to trade only stuff I felt good about. Maybe that's why I missed out on a bunch of profits from some inverse ETF's this week, but I'd rather be safe than sorry at this point. I'm not a great trader yet like some of those guys on Stocktwits or like Gio or Stewie. I lost quite a bit last year because I couldn't adjust to the new market reality soon enough. I was using bull market strategies in a suddenly bear market and it cost me everything I made the year before and then some. Ah well, that was the past, and as my philosophical books tell me, the past does not exist.

This week I made almost $900 dollars on an overnight POT position from Wednesday to Thursday. I got out as soon as the stock showed any weakness on Thursday. Yeah for me! But, I also made a few bad entries into FAS this week and cost myself about $300 of that profit. Luckily, I am learning and my positions were tiny. It could have cost me more. Also, I didn't rush into any new trades to make up for the losses and I didn't beat myself up for the mistakes I made. I count that as a win. I could have done better this week, but I also could have done worse. So I am considering this week a success. This is a tough market to navigate, esp. for someone like me who prefers swing trading larger positions in a bull market!

Today before the market closed I bought some SSO and a little LDK. Not sure about the LDK trade, but I'm not risking much. I only have 200 shares and it's pretty beaten down.