February 7
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Trades Taken: 2
Trade Plan
Plan: Clean morning session yesterday. Markets dipped hard and bought right back up around 2:30 yesterday, bouncing right off moving averages. A further push up today would have me looking at 608 into ATH on SPY, and trend test into 533 on QQQ for the shorts. Long, I would be watching end of day vwap/moving averages. A break lower than moving averages and we COULD see some serious speed to the downside, considering it’s a Friday. Still an hour to go in premarket as I write this, so let's see if we get any movement.
We had a hard move at 8:30 numbers as plans worked on volatility during premarket (SPY 2.7 premarket move).
Result: Slight dip on first minute candle, then a standard 3 minute rip into resistance. For SPY it came within striking distance of my level, taking SPY 609 puts for a fantastic Friday first reaction trade. My main payout came as SPY retested the opening price. I left a piece on, but got out a few minutes later as I didn’t not want to get caught in a squeeze. Markets dropped hard on 10:00 numbers, I let the price fall right into my hands and took QQQ 525 calls on weakness, absolutley nailed the low on reaction here, textbook hard fall into support for a nice reaction.
February 6
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Trades Taken: 2
Trade Plan
Plan: Pretty clean morning yesterday. A gap up this morning, SPY testing previous close well in premarket, that will be the first long on deck, moving averages should be there for protection on a first test. I like 607.81 area for the short, a nearly two point risk there though. QQQ long would be down by 524.47 near end of day vwap and moving averages. QQQ 529.63 is a decent range for a short with protection of trend.
Result: A dip out of the gate and I go with SPY 604 calls. Worked this trade nicely for a great first directional pick trade. I start on a trade like this wanting it lower so I can get a heavier weighted average in, but a lot of time we react prior to proper level. No worries, proper averaging gets me involved in a trade early on the directional pick. The key is to never be in “too much” where you can CORRECTLY fix your average at any point in time. Then being able to sell on the game of peaks and valleys that ensue.
Studied and watched SPY, it broke lows, and I started in on SPY 603 calls, again, the idea to average into a hard push and test of level. Solid push right into first target just a few minutes later. Great execution this morning.
February 5
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Trades Taken: 3
Trade Plan
Plan: Pretty clean trading yesterday. QQQ went a bit further than expected, but SPY closed right on Friday’s gap fill and moving averages. A gap down this morning, positioning SPY between two sets of moving averages. I like SPY into the 5 and 9 ema and and previous close. A dip into 597.77 is where I am looking long. It is premarket lows, yesterday’s open, range, and the 20/50 moving averages. A lot of protection here for a first reaction. SPY opening around 600 would be ideal for this situation. QQQ is not as clean. I would be looking at yesterday’s close for the short, 518.63 area for the long.
Result: Markets dipped first few minutes. I scalped the first dip with SPY 599 calls, just a feeler here for a quick scalp. Real trade came on the squeeze up as SPY went into moving averages, working in nicely to SPY 602 puts. Good work of averaging here, and I’m fully out into a test of morning lows. Another solid trade in the books according to plan. Markets sold off on 10:00 spike, I take advantage of the volatility and scalp SPY 597 calls twice, in and out after sniping two low entries.
February 4
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Trades Taken: 2
Trade Plan
Plan: A clean levels day yesterday to start the week and month. A gap up overnight sold back into previous close area. I would love to see market continue up in premarket, putting us halfway between to gap (yesterday’s close and Friday’s close). The proper long opportunity other than yesterday’s close is much lower and likely won’t trigger in morning session without a hard sell off. As of 9:15 est, not really liking the setup.
Result: Markets pushed out of the gate. I went with QQQ 523 puts as we pushed into moving averages, solid entries and exits here. I let the market do its thing and started playing SPY 602 puts. My first sell came at low of candle instead of high of candle where I intended, a crucial error here. Using market orders, this can happen with extreme spikes in price. It did in fact cause this to be a slight red trade overall, but I am very happy how I managed the trade as I averaged into yesterday’s highs, and moving averages perfectly with sells on the dip. Take away that mishap and this was a very well executed level trade.
February 3
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Trades Taken: 3
Trade Plan
Plan: Another sizeable gap down this morning to start the week. Last week we saw a gap down similar, just to see the market head back up, both filled the previous Friday’s gap fill. Will we see the same thing this week, or see further downside? Best part of the strategy I use is that it doesn’t matter!!! I locate high probability REACTION areas every day, no matter what the market is doing. Whether or not those levels trigger within my rules is out of my control.
On SPY, premarket lows as of 9:00 est is the 591.64 gap fill. Will only take this if we move up in premarket, right now it’s way too close. The next range lower isn’t until 585. The short I like a move into the 50 ma and 20 ma , is also a previous range. QQQ I like a move down into 510 for a try at the long. Next level down would be the 505.08 gap fill. For a short I like a move into 518.35, near the 20 and 50 ma.
Result: Market with a quick dip and rip. Wasn’t quite high enough for me to take the short on QQQ, still a bit far away from moving averages. The market turned around and went back to morning lows, breaking it. I started in on QQQ 510 calls on the break, with adding on weakness. A very nice 20% move from best entry to that next peak, taking my profits a few minutes later. Averaging and playing peaks and valleys allows me to be done on the day before I even get a proper trigger. With these plays, I don’t care how much of a move I’m getting. I care how I play my emotions within the trade, and am I playing the valley to peak move correctly. Great start to the month. Reactions, not reversals.
News hit before 10:30, squeezing the markets right up to the short trigger, very volatile move. Long trade on that squeeze was over 200% before hitting short area.
Scalped SPY 599 puts on the hard squeeze for a quick one. Stalked and waited for SPY to remount and push from 597.48 short level, wanting it halfway between two short levels. I then entered on SPY 602 puts on a “halfway there” starter, and got a nice payout a few minutes later. Base hits stack up.