Returning to Steem After Long Hiatus, Trading Journal

Hello all, I joined Steemit back in December 2017, like a lot of other folks I imagine. I had recently started my trading journey a couple months before that and oh what a journey it has been to get where I am today. I started with penny stocks and now I trade options and some crypto. No I am still not profitable on an overall basis, but I am getting better every day. I no longer just buy things because they are going up, and have learned to suppress my emotions when a position goes against me, or when I sell too early. If you add up all my losses and divide them up by the number of months I have been trading (22 months) I have paid about 200 bucks a month in tuition to the markets. I have learned so much that I believe every dollar in losses has been worth it. I am trying to keep somewhat of a trading journal, so I thought I would publish the occasional entry on here just for kicks.

Disclaimer this is not and should not be considered financial advice, I am a novice trader and following any of my trades would probably be pretty dumb.

I have been experimenting with earnings gap fades lately, but this morning there were no good earnings gaps that I saw premarket, so I zeroed in on NERV because I was itching to trade something after the weekend. I was going to get one or two $5 July 19th puts if they weren't ridiculous, but the options were slow to open and the 7.50 puts had bids and offers before the $5 puts. Gap fades can be really quick trades so I impatiently didn't give the spread time to tighten (it was a 30 cent spread when I tagged in) and I bought into the 7.50 puts for $130 and immediately regretted it. My position size was way too big for my account, especially for a volatile biotech name that could do anything. Of course it would of worked beautifully, but I tagged out almost immediately for a $15 loss because I was way too uncomfortable. What was I thinking opening up such a large position in a volatile biotech name that can move very fast? I knew it was a mistake as soon as I did it, and although it WOULD of worked, I still think I did the right thing by tagging out for a 15 dollar loss. This is because if you are so uncomfortable with the size of a position that you are literally afraid, the position is too big, and it just as easily could of not worked.

Got out of my BK swing profitably, minutes before it plummeted for the rest of the day, which was mainly luck but I also had a bearish bias today because I think the market is topping out, so I was more impatient with long positions then short positions.

Anytime the last few days I'm pissed off about a bad options trade, I look at my BTC position for a pick me up. Currently up 33.96%, avg cost 8,311.14. Been buying dips and selling rips with a small portion of it, but for the most part I've just been buy and hold on this one. I started accumulating when it crossed 6000, starting small. This one is more of an investment then a trade...just in case bitcoin goes parabolic like it did in 2017, having a position on already will help keep me from FOMOing into it.

Rolled over my GDX $25 July 19 call to a $26 August 16 call. The original contract hit my original target of 150 at the end of day, and then some! I may be crazy but I feel like almost every time I have a winner that I set a target for, the original target always gets hits, but I usually end up changing it lower or higher…. maybe your first "gut" feeling is the best feeling. Not mad though because I was still in it, and only missed out on 12 bucks from moving up in strikes, but I pocketed 12 bucks too…. A trader I respect is predicting a major pullback in gold though, which isn't improbable considering how far its come….I might open a new NUGT put position as a hedge if I see confirmation. I'm planning on rolling GDX over and over and over until it gets to 30 bucks…if it ever does. Should I just pocket the 400% profit and walk away? Maybe. But I feel like gold is going to go further then anyone thinks it will…hopefully bitcoin will too.

New option positions
Bought NTR August 16 $50 put x1 for 0.57($57)
Bought LNG July 19 $64.5 put x1 for 0.62 ($62)
Bought TECS July 19 $13 call x1 for 0.55 ($55)
Bought MO July 19 $50 call x1 for 0.65 ($60)
Bought GDX August 16 $26 call currently 1.30($130) (In at 1.06($106), rolled over from $25 call July 19 (in at 0.33 ($33), out at 1.18($118))

Old option positions
AG July 5 $6.50 put currently no bids, worthless (in at 0.25($25) on June 14)
AG July 12 $6.50 put currently no bids, also worthless at the moment (in at 0.20 on June 18)
SQQQ July 19 $40 call currently 0.73 ($73) (in at 0.74 ($74) on June 20
PCG July 19 $34 call currently 0.14 ($14) (in at 0.52 ($52) on June 20
VXX July 19 $33 call currently 0.40 ($40) (in at 0.57 ($57) on June 18
MRO July 19 $14 call currently 0.55 ($55) (in at 0.34 ($34) on June 17 (originally had 2 contracts sold one for 0.65 on June 20
EVRI July 19 $12.50 call currently 0.20 ($20) (in at 0.30 ($30) on June 23
ORCL July 19 $52.50 put currently 0.20 ($20) (in at 0.33 ($33) on June 20 (originally had 2 contracts, bought the other one for 0.26 on June 20 sold it for 0.24 on June 21
BG July 19 $55 put currently 0.55 ($55) (in at 0.80 ($80) on June 19)
ENPH July 19 $15 put currently 0.23 ($23) (in at 0.45 ($45) on June 13) this one keeps going in my direction, but not fast enough to counteract theta. The underlying just got back to where it was when I bought it, yet I am down 50%, thats why Theta is dangerous
TECS 10/18 $20 call currently 0.53($53) (in at 1.60 on June 4)

LESSON OF THE DAY: WAIT FOR A GOOD FILL, OR DON'T GET IN THE TRADE ESPECIALLY IN A NAME WITH A WIDE SPREAD. KEEP POSITIONS SMALL ENOUGH TO BE COMFORTABLE WITH LOSING.

GDX chart