April 22, 2025 Recap

Sigh

Welp. The plan worked. Aka the analysis led to a favorable outcome. My trade execution made it far more stressful than it needed to be.

Remember my plan was:

A break and hold above the 10/21 and 618, then wait for a retest of that same area + resistance turned support to enter calls for a move to the 786 / HOD.

As I published the plan, we broke the 10/21 but 618 held as resistance (2). Then the 10/21 flipped from resistance to support and we broke the 618 (3). At this point I'm waiting for a move into support to dip buy for the next leg up. But price kept moving up (4, 5, 6). The momentum was so strong the 3/8 was holding.

Instead of waiting I decide to size small to scalp a move off the 3/8 up to the next level, given how consistently the 3/8 was holding. This, despite that it was my plan to wait for 10m retest of support!

I was content using a close below the 3/8 as risk. That was the 'new plan'. Price broke below there, I didn't stop out. I waited until the 3/48 broke and signaled a 3m vommy for continuation...

Once I was out of the trade, I realized that of course my exit was actually where I wanted to get into calls in the first place. We spent 18 minutes chopping at this level with previous 10m resistance now acting as support, the 618 acting as support, and an inability to vommy fully below the 3/48. Then, a last ditch stop run before reclaiming the 10/21 and 618.

I recognized my initial error, and reentered the very same calls I previously sold, but sized larger because it was 1. the original plan and 2. more confident since I had been intensely focused when the first trade was on. (This is something I've heard other traders suggest is having 1 contract on because it heightens the awareness of what's going on)

I was early to the trade, but felt confident given it was actually the original plan. However, because I had lost the first trade, and sized larger on the second trade, I felt compelled to exit as quick as possible to get to break even on the day.

This is an amateur move. Trades are completely independent. Every moment in the market is unique. My trades were two independent events that have nothing to do with each other. As a professional, I analyze the market, I make a trade plan, I execute the plan. The outcome of any individual trade does not matter, only the execution of the plan is important.

If I had done that, I wouldn't have the 1st trade loss. Instead the 2nd trade would've been the only one and it would've been sized appropriately and allowed to run.

To show how quickly I exited, and how much less size I could've put on to get to the same dollar outcome, my 2nd trade netted +16%, BUT with the last and max sell at +45%.

To recap. Wait for the OG plan. Waiting is actually easier than taking a loss, oversizing and selling early. It really just comes down to waiting for the plan.

Simple, not easy.

I ended green on the day, but I'm not proud of how we got there. That is not the goal of each day. The goal is to defer to the plan.