Hey Guys,
The market has been showing some strength again the last couple days. The S&P 500 is around 4,785 right now.
I had an unprofitable week overall, though, primarily because the financial sector didn't follow suit with the rest of the market, and many of my stock and option positions were for financial companies.
The stock market gives us a lot of challenges to overcome, particularly on an emotional level. We can go from having a month like we did in December, where we achieve large gains, to then having a week like this where our trades do poorly and diverge from the market.
Trading sure isn't easy! What I try to do is zoom out my focus, and remember that if you look at these trading strategies across all of history, there were twists and turns all along the way with individual trade results, yet the overall result over the long term was quite positive in back tests. That knowledge helps me stay grounded during a week like this.
On a logistical note, my HSBC options from the options account hit their time limit yesterday, but they are worthless right now. In other words, their value is zero at this point, so I wasn't able to sell them. They will likely simply expire worthless, but what I did to be safe is I set up a sell market order for them so that if at any point today they start to gain value, it will automatically close the position. If that sell order never gets filled, then the position will expire worthless, will drop off my account automatically, and no action will be needed.
I picked up a couple new positions today. I bought options for KHC in the main account and I bought stock for KHC in the double down account.
If you have any questions or feedback, I'd love to hear from you.