Options scalping

Discussion in 'Journals' started by sideeyeseal, Oct 9, 2020.

  1. ZM 525 calls
    Entries: 8.80
    Exits: 10.70
    Time to scale: 3 mins
    TiT: 3 mins
    22%

    edit: came back at around 10:30am to take the following scalp short:
    AMD 79 puts
    Entries: 0.89
    Exits: 1.02, 1.18
    Time to scale: 1 min
    TiT: 3 mins
    24%

    Stray thoughts:
    • There we go, a nice hit and run, finally.

    • Completely whiffed on this JKS short. I had the Nov 60 puts queued up since pre-market, eyed them around the 5.90, 6.00 area. It was unable to stay above the previous range, which supported the short. They're now 7.30 x 7.50. It's okay, these ZM trades will help me build my confidence (and account).
     
    Last edited: Oct 22, 2020
    #21     Oct 22, 2020
    easymon1 likes this.
  2. INTC 48 puts
    Entries: 0.72, 0.68
    Exits: 0.47
    Time to scale: n/a
    TiT: 7 mins
    -33%

    FSLY 75 puts
    Entries: 0.30
    Exits: 0.42, 0.50, 0.55
    Time to scale: 12 mins
    TiT; 59 mins
    63%

    Stray thoughts:
    • What a disaster, with my getting overly biased on an extraordinarily large downside move on INTC.

    • The FSLY play was nice, but I sized it small after my INTC loss. Messing with sizing in this case was an error on my part. "Because your previous short on a different name failed" is not a good reason to change sizing.
     
    #22     Oct 23, 2020
  3. newwurldmn

    newwurldmn

    i get those trades earn if you trade the shares instead of the options.
     
    #23     Oct 23, 2020
  4. No trades for me today. I was eyeing FB, ZM, and NVDA calls on the open, but was too slow on the trigger to get good entries on any of them.

    Perhaps a bit of Monday blues, but tomorrow's another day.
     
    #24     Oct 26, 2020
  5. INTC 45.5 puts
    Entries: 0.46
    Exits: 0.54, 0.58, 0.56
    Time to scale: 10 mins
    TiT: 16 mins
    16%

    Got some minor form of revenge on INTC here from last Friday. Could dump further down but I want to lock in gains and keep my confidence up.
     
    #25     Oct 27, 2020
  6. DKNG 40 calls
    Entries: 0.80
    Exits: 0.95
    Time to scale: 3 mins
    TiT; 3 mins
    18%

    Stray thoughts:
    • Another small confidence builder.
     
    #26     Oct 28, 2020
  7. TSLA 420 calls
    Entries: 2.10
    Exits: 2.75, 3.25
    Time to scale: 57 mins
    TiT: 1 hr, 2 mins
    40%

    PINS 68 calls
    Entries: 1.20
    Exits: 1.03
    Time to scale: n/a
    TiT: 20 mins
    -17%
     
    #27     Oct 29, 2020
  8. TSLA 400 puts
    Entries: 2.80, 2.70
    Exits: 3.43, 4.57
    Time to scale: 4 mins
    TiT: 6 mins
    43%

    BABA 312.5 calls
    Entries: 1.10
    Exits: 0.65
    Time to scale: n/a
    TiT: 3 mins
    -40%

    SPY 324 puts
    Entries: 0.70, 1.00
    Exits: 1.27
    Time to scale: 29 mins
    TiT: 29 mins
    40%

    Stray thoughts:
    • I don't want to talk about the TSLA :vomit: (they're bid 12.00 right now as I write this) it's not a good excuse, but I had something to attend to this morning so I did not want to be stuck in a trade (even if it was working well) for long.

    • The BABA calls were small size, so the loss hurts less, but it really was not a great entry. I think entering around 0.85, 0.90 would have been preferable. Although they ended up relatively strong (new highs as the market hit new lows, contract bidding 1.10+ I think) in hindsight, it still ultimately would have been a loss (my target was 75%+ which was nowhere close to hitting). Just a note to myself.

    • My mental capital was limited today (as referenced above due to my schedule), so I failed to pull the trigger on AAPL puts and TWTR puts as well. That's okay, we'll have a fuller tank next week!
     
    #28     Oct 30, 2020
  9. BIDU 135 calls
    Entries: 3.80, 3.96
    Exits: 4.75, 5.00
    Time to scale: 6 mins
    TiT: 7 mins
    25%

    TWTR 40 puts
    Entries: 1.10, 1.25
    Exits: 1.40, 1.45, 1.48
    Time to scale: 44 mins
    TiT: 54 mins
    21%

    Stray thoughts:
    • TWTR: I stayed in this a bit longer than I wanted to, but the overall thesis (drop to 40, then drift lower all day) was still valid for most of the trade. It's just that my entry was not great, and had too much downside premium built into it off the opening dump. TWTR continued failing to close above meaningful moving lines, and generally trended downward slightly.

      The main issue was that buyers were able to keep it above 40.50 repeatedly, so my downside conviction was not looking great. Still, the first hour is not over yet, so I want to patiently watch for my thesis to be proven one way or the other (at this point, I'd be wrong if volume came and stayed above the 41s).

      Update: Looks like 40.50 finally gave up. Looking for new lows now. Which I got at 10:35am here. It helps that the market pulled in a bit. Thesis is coming closer to being correct. Trying to scale out a small bit at 1.40 to de-risk.

      Update 2: The thesis involved acceleration to 40, and then drift lower. But this trip to 40 has not been "accelerated" by any means. A lot of time spent here just a few cents above 40.

      Finally, we got the 40 breach. Premiums didn't shoot up as much as I'd like, so I'm just getting out here for mental capital reasons.

     
    #29     Nov 2, 2020
  10. traction

    traction

    Great results!
    How many days to expiration are you using?
     
    #30     Nov 3, 2020