Hey Guys,
The market is up yet again this morning. It's hard to believe that just a week ago it was tanking. There's an entirely different market sentiment now just one week later.
My AAPL stock position reached its profit target yesterday. And this morning I had two positions reach their time limits, so I closed both for a decent profit (EIX and FAST). That makes five profitable closed trades for me so far to start the week.
There are no new trades today. My core trading approach is based on buying pullbacks, and when the market drives up this forcefully, sometimes it means there are no stocks pulling back and therefore no new trades.
Notice how it feels when there are no trades and the market is going up. Maybe for some it's easy when there are no trades and it brings a sense of peace. For others, it might be hard when there are no trades, particularly when the market is going up. Maybe it's due to a fear of missing out. I sometimes fall into that camp. This particular time I didn't get much of that feeling, but there have been times in the past where I've felt it.
The thing to remember (for me or anyone else who feels that) is that we only buy when there is a back-tested edge. That doesn't mean that the market won't have a big "up" day at other times. For example, when the market is at all time highs, it may not be likely statistically that it would have a big booming up day. That doesn't mean that it won't happen though. So I can step back and acknowledge that even though the market had a big day, it doesn't mean that there was necessarily an edge to buying at that point. And instead of being upset about missing it, I can be thankful that I had the discipline to stick to a plan that has a lot of research and intelligence behind it. I realize and accept that it means I can't benefit from every single movement in the market. The back test never indicated I would, and so there is no reason for me to expect it.
So I'll keep patiently waiting for new trades to set up. They will at some point. Right now on the watch list, the only tickers are for companies in the Utilities sector. Maybe some of those trades will set up soon.
If you have any questions or feedback, I'd love to hear from you.