July 26
Stock charts provided by Tradingview.com
Entries charts provided by IBKR.com
Trades:
Trades Taken: 1
SPY
Plan: Another wide ranged day in markets yesterday, kept within levels though. Gap up this morning, again looking for distance, but it is Friday, so if markets don’t align, no trades. For SPY, looking for a dip into pc for a long. For a short, I like 547.50 area, but the 5 ema may conflict with this if its a lot lower. I will see at the open exactly where moving averages are on the daily.
Result: Took small size SPY 539 calls into inner level 541.35. I paid out back into morning highs for a very quick 3 minute trade to end this volatile week. This level ended up being low of day. We never know if that is going to be the case, so staying true to paying out to targets properly keeps one green as much as possible!
Lesson: A big takeaway here on this trade. From lows on the first red candle of the day, to 9:33 was 92 cents, almost a full point. This is where I was involved in the trade. I aim to take profit on a push of 50 cents. Lesson here is that the plans were very wide, we are getting range in the market right now. What looks like a small move on the stock chart is actually quite sizeable compared to a normal day.
QQQ
Plan: PC for a long, high of day for a short. Simpler that SPY, but SPY for me is a bit more interesting.
Result: Short inner level worked on test near 10:00, didn’t get a true trigger at the levels I really wanted. Traded SPY out of the gate for a quick trade.
July 25
Trades:
Trades Taken: 1
SPY
Plan: After a nice big sell yesterday, looking to capitalize on a first directional pick. A dip into premarket lows will get me long, starting at yesterdays low of day. A move up into end of day vwap would get me short.
Result: Opened right at previous close, a dip into yesterdays lows and I took SPY 539 calls and paid out on first push and all out into previous close. Nice trade to plan.
The rest of the day was quite clean, large range. bottomed out just above gap fill marked, and topped out at moving averages on the daily.
QQQ
Plan: Similar to spy, looking for a dip into pm lows for a long and end of day vwap for a short.
Result: While I traded SPY, today’s levels on QQQ remind me of how much I’ve learned and how well this strategy works, even on wide ranged days like today.
It takes years to get this dialed in on the market, but it is possible!
July 24
Trades:
Trades Taken: 0
SPY
Plan: Large gap down, very volatile. While the levels look sound, I have place extreme levels as that markets have the setup for a big move today. Knowing this, I will likely sit today out.
Result: Massive red day in markets, largest red day in two years. My feelings were right on extreme levels to be tested as you can see, time to take advantage tomorrow if the right set up is there ( I want calls with a straight dip into support)
QQQ
Plan: See above for plan on the day
Result:
July 23
Trades:
Trades Taken: 0
SPY
Plan: Would really like to see a move past moving averages, and a retest of those and the previous close for a long. Notice the trade boxes are not near the previous close but highlighting the extremes for today. Similar plan on QQQ
Result: Not much distance on the previous close area, so no trades taken.
QQQ
Plan: Prefer a remount of previous close for a long, 9 ema area on daily for a short.
Result: No trades taken as I did not get the set up I was looking for. The price moved to and topped out perfectly on the 9 ema on daily, but time of day was just not right.
July 22
Trades:
Trades Taken: 1
SPY
Plan: significant gap up after a few red days in the market. Looking for a straight pop into moving averages for a short, a straight dip into 550.30 area and averaging into pc gets me long.
A few days of selling, then a big gap up premarket. The key to today (in my opinion), is being cautious of the moving averages. I think in hindsight, moving averages will work well, but due to steepness, hard to gauge exactly where they will be.
Result: Spy held the 20 ma, but I wanted lower. Waited for short trigger at the moving averages and nailed the first pullback from testing the 5 with the SPY 554 puts. The second test clearly worked much better, but I am very pleased as I my rules kept me green yet again today. QQQ traded alongside spy as it normally does and also worked well on first test of short level.
QQQ
Plan: Similar to spy, I like a pop into moving averages for a short, previous close for a long. Coming out of a dip, so first reactions on shorts are absolute key.
Result: I traded SPY, but QQQ worked at short level right to plan.