It sounds so simple.

To win at trading means to take profits.

If there are no profits taken, there is no winning. And if there is no winning, then what am I even doing here?

Subscribers to the various options education services we provide at All Star Charts know that I’m usually very clear about where I’ll take profits in the various trades I put on. Most trades have a profit target and I set the GTC limit orders out in the market and let them get hit. I’m hands-off. Unemotional.

So it would seem that I’m pretty automatic about this practice of profit-taking in all realms of the market in which I engage.

You might be surprised that this hasn’t been true in my personal index options trading. [Read more…]

When I last wrote to you, I was mired in a spiral of frustration as I grappled with understanding what went wrong with one of my strategies, what I missed that opened the door to a larger-than-expected loss, and how to move forward.

I’m happy to report that I’ve come out the other side.

The only way out is through.

That’s always been true for me, at least.

My wife can attest: up until yesterday, for a week I’d been walking around like a grumpy zombie, lost in repetitive thought, running mind simulations of hundreds of scenarios and if/then situations. 99% of the ideas were just simple regurgitations of things I tried and failed at in the past. It takes tremendous effort for me to remind myself: been there, done that.

I often waste significant time and energy rehashing old tricks I’ve employed in the past that I’d already proven don’t work as intended. Being better about journaling and reviewing said journal regularly would probably help me out with this.

What helped turn the corner for me was [Read more…]