I spent the majority of my time this month building systems to ensure I’m trading well & systems to thoroughly review all my trades to ensure I’m moving forward & not in circles. As a result, I only traded 3 days this month & the bulk of my profits came from one trade. I’m looking to trade more in June, but only if I can trade the right way, which means charting well, executing according to thorough game plans, & following up with detailed reviews of every trade before moving on to the next trading day. May has been my best month to date in 2021, and the first month I traded securities other than AAPL, so even though I only traded 3 days, I’m glad to have had this important month in my journey finish up green.
2021 | May | Key Takeaways
Week 22 • Week 4 | Preparation is paramount. Systemize it to preserve mental capital.
-Systemize preparation for trading day. Do as much thinking beforehand as possible & refine tools to handle as much upfront work as possible before actual trade action.
5.27 | • MUST HAVE THOROUGH GAME-PLAN FOR EXITS AS WELL AS ENTRIES
Week 21 • Week 3 | Trade levels & know what to expect from derivative based on strike.
-Become aware of & comfortable with what drawdowns will be. Do not trade based on arbitrary dollar amounts of the derivative, but on technical levels of the underlying. It is crucial to trade closer to in-the-money when taking short term trades.
5.19 | • APPROPRIATE STRIKE IS AS IMPORTANT AS PREDICTING DIRECTION 5.20 | • TRADE BASED ON UNDERLYING LEVELS NOT ARBITRARY VALUE OF DERIVATIVE
Week 20 • Week 2 | Must journal thoroughly. Mastery lies in deep self analysis.
-Spent week creating thorough journaling tools for posting, refining principles of journaling & building tools to facilitate as much possible work up front before trading day. No Trades |
Week 19 • Week 1 | Thorough analysis of April. Learn from your mistakes. Read TAST.
-Spent week writing a thorough overview of April Trading month & reading TAST. Was in Denver.
No Trades |
2021 | May | Mistakes
1. Did not make or follow an explicit game plan for exiting trades. Need to have plans laid out well in advance of trades. Need to be as thorough as possible in game plans in order to best meet the moment of trade. Fail to plan, plan to fail. Solution: Use the game plan tool you built, do not take trades unless you’ve laid out a thorough game plan for how you will react to different possibilities.
2. Did not trade based on underlying levels. Traded Chop. Was often trading based on arbitrary dollar amounts in the option I was in, not based on where the levels of the underlying were. Respect your Technical Analysis. Solution: Complete thorough technical analysis & abide by it.
3. Traded Chop. Did not wait for good setups, was not selective with the stocks I chose to trade, and just jumped in whatever was moving Solution: Do not trade chop. Do not trade without a gameplan.
2021 | May | Activity Log | 9467 min | 157.78 hrs
Created & refined:
- Solace Journal & all systems to maintain it
- Game Plan Tool
- Chart Tracking Tool
- Todo Tracking Tool
- Potential Profit/Loss Tool
- Risk to Reward Calculator Tool
- Option Greeks Analysis Tool
Updated & refined:
- Caduceus Data Journal
Posted:
- All trades & analyses since 4.21.2021 to Solace Journal
Studied:
- Read ‘Technical Analysis of Stock Trends’ (104 pages)
Traded:
- 3 Days | $225.10 | 20.06%
April 2021 Successes & Mistakes Statistics:
