AT #26: $500 to $74,580 Challenge Week 10

Read time: 3 minutes

There’s nothing like the feeling of losing a trade, jumping on Twitter and seeing everyone boast about making tendies on the opposite contract.

In todays email, I want to share with you my routine to heal my ego of being punched.

In this Email

• Stats for the week
• I really like this stock for the next 10 months
• What to Do After A Losing Trade

Stats of the week

• Number of trades: 8
• Profit: -$282.90
• PnL %: -38.13%
• Account value: $459.10 (prev week)
• Position size per trade: $300
• Cash position: $2,611
• Tickers: $QQQ | $SPX | $MSFT

Tough week. In the beginning of this month, I started at $650, and went to $742. From last week account value start, the account went down -38.13%.

From the reset point of $650, the account is down -29.36%.

4 out of 5 losses were green between 20-45% before they became losses. Why did I let them go red? Because, I was animate about hitting my price target, which never did.

I’m going to start implementing the 60/30/10 rule for my option trading strategy.

Here’s how it works:

• 60% of the contracts will be sold at 30% profit.
• Another 30% of the contracts will be closed when the price target is reached.
• The remaining 10% will be held for higher price targets.

This way, I can achieve a consistent and profitable trading approach.

PayPal (PYPL), what are you trying to do

A long long time ago, I applied to PayPal as a software engineer, and got rejected. Well, now I’m looking to make a salary off them with the market.

Here’s what I like:

1. They have great earnings
2. They’re #1 payment processing tool for hospitals & apps like doordash & ubereat
3. The weekly timeframe shows a falling wedge
4. An absurd amount OI on the Jan 17 2025 leaps

This stock has been beaten down, even with great earnings back to back.

Now, how am I trading this?

Well, I’m grabbing Jan 17, 2025 leaps for 145, and I’m grabbing shares, and I’m looking for a similar uptrend like when Meta (META) was at it’s all-time low of the year in 2023.

This is not a small challenge account trade, this is a main account trade.

What I do after losing a trade

Losing trades is inevitable. But how you choose to deal with the experience is up to you. Here 4 things I do after losing a trade.

1. Stop trading for at least 5 minutes

Trying to revenge trade is something you will want to experience in all phases of your trading journey. When you’re revenge trading, it’s because you’ve now let your emotions take over to make an impulsive trading decision.

That’s why it’s important to just take a step back, maybe take a bathroom break, and come in with a fresh perspective.

2. Write

Wether it’s on a software tool, or pen and paper write how you feel.

I know, I know, this may sound cringe but I can’t express how much this helps me.

Writing forces me to think deeply of the problem, and to write well, well you need to have clarity and deep understanding of what you’re trying to express.

3. Take a short walk

This is one of my favorite things to do. I love physical activities, not only for health and vanity reasons but also because it helps me reduce my stress, and improves my mood.

This is also a moment where I can reflect on my trading day, and come back with a clear and fresh perspective.

4. Wait for the next quality setup

Now, this one take discpline. It requires you to really just sit and wait, and not many can do this.

Let the chart setup meet your criteria. This may help you avoid making any other emotional trading decisions and increasing your chances of getting that bag!