03/25 Daily Summary

“Everyone has a plan ‘till they get punched in the mouth”
-- Mike Tyson
He is right!! Today I got a black eye and a few jabs in the lips, ribs, etc. I saw the marked opened with a gap open, then checked FinViz and saw there wasn’t much “green on the map”, so thought to myself, well, it doesn’t look like will move much from here. Then in the back of my mind I thought: would hate to be buying right now.. Sure enough, we moved just above 1 st. Deviation from Yesterday, triggered ALL my contingent orders and reverted 100% and more of the move.. BANG! BONG, OUCH!!
Here is how I honestly cope with my adversity:

Step 1) MUT*ERF#CKER!!! YOU S*N OF A BITC#!! (I vent my feelings out loud for a while)

Step 2) Got to a long walk with the dog, climbed over a hill next to our house, to the edge, watching the ocean from the edge gives you perspective.. What you gonna do? Jump? Heck no (I step back from the situation mentally and get myself calm and collected)

Step 3) I now think of what is this teaching me: manage those contingent orders not to fully stop EVER again, have them in at least 3 layers of slowing delta down. (I take ownership of the situation, try to extract some learning from it)

Step 4) Ok, trade by trade, what can I do? Is it worth hanging around? Figure it out and get on with life (I go into problem solving mode and figure out how can I manage the positions)

Here is a few links for your own reference:
http://traderfeed.blogspot.com/2007/08/assessing-your-coping-style-as-trader.html
http://traderfeed.blogspot.com/2007/10/emotional-resilience-in-trading-three.html
http://traderfeed.blogspot.com/2010/03/getting-punched-in-mouth-as-trader.html

03/24 NDX Iron Butterfly

Same story with most of my butterflies Today, got to a hedging point and whipsaw action. I will level my Greeks Tomorrow, and continue to stay on the trade. Key here is how we open Tomorrow.

03/25 NDX Fast Iron Butterfly (from 03/22)

Hit the hedge, came back.. what else is new? Well, if we go down will level my Greeks and see what I can do with the position. So far not at a deep loss level, and there is plenty of time for NDX to get quiet and give up profits.

03/25 NDX Fast Iron Butterfly (from 03/15)

Whipsaw Today, got all the way up to my max loss, triggered my hedging and came back in full force. If we keep going down Tomorrow I have contingent order to sell the call back and level the greeks.

03/25 NDX Fast Butterfly (from 03/08)

Didn’t touch this trade Today, and plan on leaving it alone Tomorow, might decide to exit it by end of day, will see how the market is behaving. At this point, there is only 1 butterfly here, so not a lot of risk on the table.