July 21

A day of progress.

I was patient. But, lacked confidence, I believe, because I didn't write out my thesis here. I'm curious if I had done it if I would've held to the expected target.

Basic thesis. We ripped all morning. Price was very extended from the hourly. The 10m ribbon was very thick but low risk reward for continuation given the distance from the hourly. We spent a lot of time trying to make new highs after 1p. No new high was made so the thought was puts as close to resistance as possible, otherwise no calls until deep in the ribbon.

I did stick to that!

I waited patiently until 150p to enter. We had put in an evening star reversal on the 10m off the HOD. Plenty of justification to enter.

Where I could have executed better was in confidence / fully accepting the loss. Every wiggle down to the ribbon I wanted profit, every wiggle to my entry I wanted to exit.

I believe - because I didn't write out the justification, I wasn't confident in seeing the trade play out. I also sized to large. Even when I re-entered the trade with smaller size, I was still not able to hold the wiggles. Strike selection had something to do with this. After 1p I prefer to trade ITM contracts. Theta works so hard against me with even 5 OTM that it becomes really hard to hold. Or at least it was today. Again, potentially and likely because I didn't draft my trade justification.

Even when I was in the trade there was every reason to stay in. Every move up was getting sold.

I entered after a baby hammer off the 10m ribbon at 6334. Which coincided with the scalp close level.

Part of my issues was having gotten in too early. I spent the next 45ish minutes getting chopped up with three consecutive doji candles. As time went on and I traded in and out of the 6330 puts, the scalp closes level was acting as solid resistance and therefore the scalp put trigger was my target level. I also swapped into the 6335 puts which allowed me to stomach candles against me a little bit better. The good and potentially bad thing about ITM is that just a move down to 6331 produced enough profit for me.

Which that is what we will focus on. Better patience and a green day. However, with a written more well thought out and confident thesis. Perhaps I would've simply entered once. Used the scalp close as my stop and the scalp put as my exit.

My entry into the 6335s was $4.20. The prior low was $3.6. My final exit was $6.3, 50%! But, frustratingly I told myself I would hold no matter what until the 3m21e was broken or the scalp put was hit.

I entered after another attempt to break the scalp close level and the 3m 21e. Pretty ideal amazing entry. Especially because we immediately "tanked" from 6333 to 6331. Lol. Only two points. But on 0dte it's enough. What's easy in hindsight is that my thesis was based on the hourly and 10m chart. I could've sized smaller and waited for the larger move, but the wiggles are hard (which is why I went 1dte in the first place...)

Anyhow, for the last contract I told myself I'd wait until either the 3m21e was broken or the scalp put hit. Instead I exited at 6330. An extra point. I wasn't willing to give up 3 points in the likely scenario we moved another 5.

The high of the candle I exited on was $7.7. I got out at $6.5. The high on the candle that ultimately hit the put trigger.... $12.1 - 200% on my entry. Then closed at $29. I wouldn't have held that long, but the 3m21e was never tested. The next logical exit was the scalp 618 level. when the cons hit $24.

What's wonderful is I'm not agonizing at all over leaving money on the table. That's a huge improvement over my typical mental state. 'Oh what could've been' It's fine, I'm trying to improve my process.

Today my patience was great.

I realize how important it is for me to truly write my justification for a trade. It will really help to stomach the wiggles and be steadfast in accepting the loss while waiting for either my stop or take profit level.

I need to size smaller.

3% day.

Tomorrow I will be equally patient.

I will write out my justification here.

I will size smaller and let it play out.

I am making progress.