I'll say this, it wasn't easy getting from $2000 to $67000. There wasn't any smooth sailing at all. I was sweating on some of these trades, especially that CMG call position. I also got a bit lucky at the start of the year and just happened to catch that momentum in the market in January. Looking back, I don't think there's been a month like the first 20 days of January in a while. Gains have been much harder to come by the past 2 months. I think the only issue with most retail traders is that we get too fearful and too greedy easily. There were times when I held that CMG position that I thought about taking a loss and calling it a day as it was heading into its earning report, even though my research said that the odds of CMG trading higher was more likely. Changing small things like this have been the difference for me. Back in January, I missed the first 3 trading days of the year because of the flu. During that time, NFLX had rallied by nearly 20 pts already, but I still entered the trade because nothing in my research changed within those 3 days. All I'm saying is that 5 years ago, I would have been too fearful to take on such a trade.
So you have been trading for about 5 years? Your cautiousness and prudence are probably one of the reasons that you are doing well in your trading besides your experience and working strategy.
I've added NFLX May wk2 315 calls. I wanted to jump into NFLX on Friday, but price action in the market didn't allow it at that time. The FANG stocks were struggling a bit, but then it does look like I missed a great opportunity on Friday. Still, it wasn't too late for me to jump in today. I've also closed some of my ULTA May 240 calls this morning. ULTA was one of those stocks I opened about 2 weeks ago when I felt very bullish on the market with a new rally in play. Some have played out while others like the TSLA calls I opened at that same time turned out to be losers. I still have 1/2 ULTA position and the UNH May 240 calls that I also opened at that time.
OI, what's your read on this: We have an odd SP500 Chart. Since the high in late January 2018, we have a series of lower rally highs, but the retracement lows are supported by the rising 200dma. We are forming a right triangle. Oil is probably the hottest property right now:
Draw two lines....One connecting the lower highs and the other connecting the lows. It's either a wedge or triangle, and it'll be a buy or short once the SP500 breaks out from one of those trend lines. We could be stuck here for another couple of weeks, but even on the initial break from the trend line, look for traps as it could reverse right back into it. That's how I see this market right now. Still, while it is like this, individual stocks that are breaking out will make a move while those that are selling off will also continue in its selling. And that oil chart is a beauty. I had oil on my radar when it first broke $60 at the start of the year. Oil usually rallies in the Spring so I kept that in mind. When it broke $60 again in mid-February I started to look at individual oil stocks. HES was the first one showing signs of breaking out, and then a bunch of them just followed like COP and PSX. Even the laggards like CVX and XOM are making a move now.
I did set up 2 earning trades today. Bought GRUB May wk1 $100 calls and a SHOP May wk1 130/140 call spread. I like both, but the total risk on both is only about $3600. There are earnings later in the week that I also want to test out.
Took the losses in GRUB and SHOP. This market just wasn't going to let it happen. I added WTW May wk1 78 calls and SQ May wk1 48 calls ahead of their report on Thursday. I also want to set up a strangle on ANET, but will have to wait until Thursday to do that.
Added BABA May wk1 182.5 calls this morning. And those were WTW May wk1 70 calls along with SQ May wk1 48 calls. Will hold these through earnings at the end of this week.
I made +1584 on BABA, but took losses on all the others, WTW at -74, GRUB was -2302, SHOP -967, and SQ at -269. I was out for the past few days so I didn't initiate new trades, but I closed out the rest of ULTA for a total of +4490 on both exits. Over all, gains came to +2461 for the week. Today, I took out the UNH 240 calls with those taking a big hit as the shares fell further. I also locked in the NFLX 315 calls I had that were set to expire this week. The move was definitely nice. The net gain for the week is +1695. I also added NVDA May 255 calls today on the breakout into new highs. It looks like the rally that started about 2 weeks ago is holding here and techs are leading the way. I'm still holding a good chunk of HES calls with HES shares now at $63. At my entry on March 21st, the shares were only breaking $50. This has been a nice move with the options nearly tripling since then.