Day Trading SPY, TSLA & FRTX : 3/8/23

MY DAILY PROCESS FOR TRADING 

Day Goals

• Focus on Intraday System Pattern A-C. 
• Patience is the key to solid entries and to maintaining low-stress levels.
• Focus on SPY options is priority #1.
• TSLA options is #2.
• Top % gainers for stocks is #3.
• Will consider increasing contract position size by 1 for next week if adhere to all daily goals this week.

Pre-market Plans

Market News

• Fed Chair Powell speaking at 7am PST. Definitely will have a potentially high impact on moving the markets. So be cautious trading around this time, waiting for the moves to scalp or for trends to present themselves to create plans.

SPY

• Determined RZ waiting to see if we hold or break below. Ideally, we break below and then get in on the RZ Reject. On the upside, we have KL rejects at 400 or 401.50. On the downside, we have KL bounces around 396 and 394.

TSLA 

• Sort of the same game for TSLA; RZ waiting to see if we hold or break below. Ideally, we break below and then get in on the RZ Reject. On the upside, we have a  KL reject at 192.50. On the downside, we have a KL bounce at 180.

FRTX

• For top % gainers, FRTX is a low float with positive news and a nice reaction zone setting up at the 3.59 area. Looking for a break of the RZ for a spike.

Raw Trading Notes

• Had the RZ reject marked on TSLA, but the zone was big, so it was hard to get in right at the beginning of the zone, but I had a nice move up at the open and nice reject. Just waiting now.
• Might be able to play the RZ break on SPY, but the conservative play is to wait for the retest. If I do play, the break should only be a quick scalp. Then, the retest can be a more extended hold.
• NOTE: when the market looks weak, the RZ test seems correct at the beginning and does not have much strength...as soon as it touches, it reverses.
• Not much happening...probably need to wait for 7am for Powell.
• Well damn took the RZ break, and guess what? Fidelity froze, so I needed to restart. Probably would have taken the nice gain on the panic and was expecting it to be quick, but no opportunity to get out since my program crashed....by the time I got it up again, it bounced, and I decided to average again and nope keep going up so significant loss. Trying to stay disciplined now. Need to wait for a straightforward setup to get back in. I was itching to get in, and then to make matters worse, an unknown variable came into play, eliminating my opportunity to get out.
• If I don't make any more trades today, all solid trades this week will be wiped out, and I will be red on the week. 
• Damn traded in a rush some more, and instead of getting calls, I got puts...what a mess today.
• There is a ton of strength for the potential bottom. The buyers will win or tire...need to be patient now...I'm probably only going to trade one more time today.... my emotional state is reaching its limit.
• I should have just stuck with my plan on TSLA for the KL bounce... But, unfortunately, I was too enthralled with SPY and the volatile moves...
• We might be able to get to 400 for a possible reject area as per my plan but will need to see a lower high
• I am frustrated with myself today.
• Could have gotten in SPY puts around 399.70 but held off....waiting for a lower high now...predicting I won't get it, but I need to wait for it to not rush again...
• I didn't execute because already scarred on the day.
• don't want to be more scarred by rushing in again.
• but the same psychological cycle might hinder me...only the future will show the truth.
• Will see if 399 will be the lower high area...starting to bounce at green/red level 398.27
• Just letting the past simmer...I failed to cut losses fast today too.
• Wow, it tested me so much, but we got the lower high.
• Well was up about $500 on my position, not quite enough to wipe out losses...might have still been down like $200...didn't take it. Then right back up, so there goes everything. So profits evaporated, and we needed to take another loss.
• BIG RED day....this happens repeatedly, every so often for me. Wipes out all my progress. I never get  BIG GREEN days, so I feel trapped in this cycle.  SO FRUSTRATING!
• Might be done for the day now.
• Need to learn from this....man really unbelievable. 
• Have enough settled cash for one more small position and bought some more 399 puts near the day highs... proven resistance.
• After this, I will be forced to be done.
• Well, nice to see up 30% on my small position would have been nice to have that before when I had a 3.5k position.
• Also, the story of my trading life...I have big positions and then lose. I have small positions and almost significant % gain, but it seems like it always gets covered up and forgotten because it doesn't affect my trading account.
• Well-ended selling at 77% profit. Not enough to do anything about my big red day...still a red day.
• See screenshots of the put position that the loss will cover up later today. Unfortunately, this happens more times than I want to say. By at least acknowledging this now, I need to focus on this result and let this come out in my trading more. Will think about this some more to have a clearer picture moving forward in the post-review section.
• Will figure out a path forward so I can better learn from this and not repeat this.

Post Review

• Well feel highly frustrated with my performance today. This loss today should not happen, and the reason it is a big loss relative to my usual gains is due to the following:
• Took bigger position sizes (double and triple my usual).
• Not cutting losses quickly enough (still cut though-did not hold and hope)
• Failed to take the profits given freely twice!
• Kept trying too many times and not waiting for more precise entries.
• Let emotions creep up a bit due to unforeseen circumstances with software creating a scenario where I needed to take a loss and then feel like I needed to rush
• Trading way too much and not focusing on better plays.
• When I did wait and have a solid entry, the play took a while, but the position gave me a 77% return. AWESOME! 
• It sucks that compared to today's loss, it did not make a dent.
• I should never average down anymore. The risk is too significant for me.
• It is clear that I need corrective action to be implemented tomorrow.
• keep position size small (permanently or until these days do not happen anymore)
• filter and have better plans than I have been generating.
• needs to be clearer to weed out this variability that I experienced today
• it could be that today was extremely choppy, and I did have decent plays but failed to cut losses and take gains where I needed to. But moving forward, I want a better filter because today was an emotional roller coaster. If I can have better or clearer trade plans based on waiting for things to confirm the setup instead of predicting the setup, I think this will take lots of anxiety and stress off the table.
• waiting for the confirmation reject or waiting for the confirmation breakout etc.
• Fewer trades, more confidence in trades. If the trades went in my favor today or I actually did take the profits where I should have, the % gains would have been probably 10-15% which is excellent but pales in comparison to the 77% trade where I waited and had a more solid plan for and confidence in.
• RZ trades for the breaks cannot be taken during the mornings (too volatile). These must be considered after price action, and 5 min chart generates the clear zones, and only then can I consider them.
• Overall, not going to let this lesson be forgotten. This will provide the motivation to get to the next level.