Day 37

The market moved sideways today, ending slightly higher.
SPY inched up by ~.3%, while QQQ moved up by ~.8%.

Trading Update

I wanted to maintain my positions. This is what I said yesterday: Maintain Status Quo.

In fact, I did not maintain the status quo. For some reason, my instinct was to free up some buying power, so I closed my open Put Credit Spreads (PCS). That helped release $2,000 back into my buying power.

• META 4/17 $530/$520 PCS - Closed at a $14 loss
• QQQ 3/21 $455/$450 PCS - Closed at a $108 loss

Portfolio Status

Like the overall market, my portfolio moved slightly higher, up ~ +4.9% at the close.

📉 Year to Date: -2.2%
📉 All Time: -17.63%

The AAPL 4/17 put remains really strong, currently up+449%. As I mentioned before, I really need this to explode before considering an exit.

Here is the portfolio status.

Trade History

Here are my last 20 trades:

Plan for Tomorrow

Hunt for trades.

I haven’t had a winner in a while. It’s tempting to take profits on the AAPL put (currently up ~+448%), but another rough market stretch could push it even higher.

I’ve run out of ideas on what to trade in this choppy market. My LEAPS keep losing value, but I may be falling into the sunk cost fallacy. There’s still plenty of time left, and I believe they will bounce back. However, this experience has taught me not to lock up so much capital in so few trades.

I’ve also struggled to stick to the 45 DTE open / 21 DTE close principle I initially planned to follow. Keeping spreads open longer than 3-4 days makes me really nervous.

One option is to accept the current losses, reset, and restart. But part of me believes these positions will recover once the market turns positive. I’m not a big believer in betting on individual security moves, but as I said in my thesis, I am directionally bullish.

What do you think—should I reset my positions or stay patient? Let me know your thoughts!

📌 Disclaimer: Nothing on this site is financial advice—I’m just here to entertain! Here’s my introduction, my trading philosophy, and some ground rules.