Hey Guys,
The market is down again. The S&P 500 is around 3,935 right now. We're testing the lows we saw in the middle of November.
With the market coming down every day this week (the S&P 500 is down more than 130 points from the start of the week), it's bringing most positions in my portfolio down with it. When everything is down like this, that's sometimes when tough feelings will come up like fear or anger.
It's in these moments that I remind myself of the big picture. The trades I'm taking are ones that were tested against 20+ years of stock market activity. Their results in those back tests were robust, and even so, there were periods of losses and drawdown. The losses are unavoidable and a standard part of the trading experience.
So I stay focused on the big picture and I stick to the plan. My goal is to stay in lock step with the back-tested approach. You just never know what's coming next. Last week the market started the week down and then it turned into a very positive week. Rather than riding an emotional roller coaster with each turn the market takes, I instead try to detach from the trades to some extent and give them the space to breathe.
A couple of my positions hit stoplosses today (MRTX stock position and BK options). I also closed four positions that reached their time limits. Technically three of the four went for a profit, but they were really all about breakeven.
I picked up a full slate of new positions today. I bought stock positions for ICE and TSM in the main account. I bought the options for those same tickers in the extra options account. I bought YETI and PLNT shares in the low-priced account.
If you have any questions or feedback, I'd love to hear from you.