Wow Guys, it is wild and woolly in the market right now. Yesterday the market went up for the first hour and a half and appeared to be having a nice rebound day, but since that time the S&P 500 has dropped more than 150 points. That's a long distance for it to travel in a 24-hour period. And that drop had a big impact on my portfolio.
In my main account, I hit stoplosses on three stock positions this morning and a futures position yesterday. In the low-priced account I hit stoplosses on two positions this morning. And my portfolio has a lot of red in it with my remaining positions. We are clearly going through a drawdown right now.
And as we traverse this drawdown, I'm going to be right here with you. We're in this together.
When going through a serious drawdown, it can feel scary. For some people it can feel like their world is crashing down (I've gone through that sensation at times in the past). When that feeling comes up for me, I like to look around at my physical surroundings and notice that I'm safe in that moment, and in no physical danger. As troublesome as the situation may seem, I'm actually physically ok and my world is, in fact, not crashing down. That suffering is mind-based, and I have a choice whether to keep giving energy to those thoughts. So I like to notice I'm safe, and sometimes that helps ground me and allow me to make trades from a calmer state of being.
Another thing worth pointing out: a drawdown like this is nothing new. Looking through the back test, there have been many times that the market went through extreme volatility, and my trading algorithm just kept making the trades when they set up as per the back-tested strategy. All the back test results encompass and include periods like this where the market is volatile. It doesn't mean that there is any sort of assurance that the market will go up from here; there is indeed real risk with every trade you take. But it does mean that what's happening right now isn't new or unexpected. It's already accounted for in back tests. This is just one step on the long term journey to try to reap the rewards of the back-tested trading approach. There's no way to be sure what the next step will bring, so I try to stay synchronized with the algorithm and put more focus on the long term potential than on the short term fluctuations.
I fully loaded up on positions today. There were trades setting up from every corner of the market. I grabbed TSM and VIAC stock in my main account as well as a futures position (the MT 95 strategy for those interested). In the low-priced account I bought WBA and DISCA. And in the extra options account I bought options for WBA, C, TSM, and VIAC.
You can reach out to me any time.
If you have any questions or feedback, I'd love to hear from you.