Steve's $1000 Option Paper Account

[MasterSteve]

It has been a few months after the $1,000 Trading Challenge at the beginning of the year. This semester and work has kept me pretty busy until recently, and I've kept mostly to the sidelines watching the markets and taking notes. I have pulled out the remaining money since the challenge and have been working on being more consistent with my trades. My accounts have blown up in the past because I haven't kept good risk management when I start losing, and because I generally enter positions with very close expirations.

I've started a $1000 paper trading account that I'll be running until I take it to $5000. After I will fund my account with real money and go from there. I call out my entries and exits as I take them on our discord, and only enter in plays I would actually enter with real money. I'm trying to keep this as close to real trading as possible. I keep track of all of my plays on a spreadsheet (updated EOD) and wanted to put it out there for all interested (link at the end). I call out anything that I'm looking at on our discord page, and where I think things are going. I get information from a variety of sources, groups, option flows, huge volume flows, and my own DD, but after I decide to enter the play the responsibility of loss or gain is mine and only mine. I started the challenge to myself a week ago (4/22/2019) and decided to start a running post to keep myself accountable.

Attached is the spreadsheet that I have been and am going to keep logging all of my trades on. As of week in, I'm up to just under $2300. My win rate is approximately 59%, and in a future post will go over how I'm keeping my risk management. Any highlighted box amount may not be accurate, because that play may not be closed yet. I'm excited to be putting this out there and start posting again. As always, feel free to contact me anytime I'm happy to help.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GyrgONG0pJ2fcv-uHOXsLDdmXCDGJH67FY19pFfxEB8/edit?usp=sharing

This project is for me to learn and to keep pushing myself. Any plays I discuss or enter is not investment advice, please do your own DD as well.

 

[San]

@MasterSteve, Thanks for updating your log with detailed info. Is it possible to update Time of entry and if you feel ok can u share the rule for entry and exit the position.

 

[MasterSteve]

@San

Hi San,

I call out my thoughts and times of entry/exit on our discord. I think adding that to the excel would make it too messy. The sheet is just an easy way of me to keep track of my account.

Here is the link to the discord.

https://discord.gg/QMJUTtK

 

[MasterSteve]

This is a recap of my trades for Week #2. My end of week balance is at $3,309 and my win rate is at 59.38%. Above is a picture of all the trades I entered and exited. I still call out each one when I enter and exit on our discord channel. I find that helps keep me accountable and making good plays.

The most notable plays from this week was the OLED earnings I closed at 186% gains, and the TWLO play I closed at -78.75% gains. OLED I entered because of an unusual option flow and that I expected them to beat because of their major work in smartphones and tvs this quarter. They have a history of wild moves after their ERs and I thought putting $800 towards an option was worth the risk.



TWLO I entered because their ER beat but the stock dropped significantly. I was playing the bounce play, and was up 30% at one point, but didn't sell. I should have played a lower strike price, and took profit when I had it. There were a few times I was green on this play, and since I had a significant amount of money in the play, needed to take profit early and get out. This is something I need to be more cognizant in the future. I had 2 plays on Friday that I lost $400 on because I didn't take profit when I should have. I'm realizing that making money in the stock market is all about risk management. It is very easy to make money, and even easier to lose it.



For me, spreading my money out and buying more long term options is really helping me stay profitable in this volatile market. Currently watching TTD, HIIQ, and NVDA earnings, and have about $360 available to make plays on Monday. I'll be watching SPY in the afternoon for a bounce, may play EOW for trade talks.

Link to my trading Excel file:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GyrgONG0pJ2fcv-uHOXsLDdmXCDGJH67FY19pFfxEB8/edit?usp=sharing

 

[MasterSteve]

I finished out the $1000-$5000 Option Paper Account on May 16th, 2019 at $5,587.00. This is four weeks after I started this challenge, and I'd say it went better than I expected. My overall win rate is at 58.90% and I've probably lost about $1500 to stupid decisions (which is pretty decent for me). I will be starting a $2000 Option Account Challenge with real money starting 5/24/2019. I don't have any specific goals for that one, but I hope to use the lessons I've learned in this one to stay consistently profitable. I will still be keeping track on a spreadsheet and I'll start a post about it over the weekend. I'll still be calling out my plays in our discord, The Syndicate.

The main lesson I've learned from this challenge is controlling risk management. I've been able to use my money in cheap and expensive plays with varying degrees of risk and that's really paid off for me. If I believe in a play, I'll hold it or average down to take advantage of a temporary drop in price to maximize future gains. I'm not afraid to follow my gut on a riskier play with a smaller amount of money and trust in my experience thus far in the market. On the other side, if a play doesn't go well for me, other plays I've been in has helped offset the losses. I am still far from perfect but it just goes to show, even if you're wrong 40% of the time you can still make profits.

This play is an example of a play I was particularly confident in just from fundamentals. BYND is a **** stock, but just by following the previous days highs and lows, I was able to make a great deal of profit playing in both directions. I entered in puts (first white circle) on Wednesday May 15th because BYND had broken way above the previous high trendline. I was betting it'd reverse back to the previous range and I sold at the second white circle for over 100% gains. I entered in calls at the grey circle because it bounced off the low trendline that was forming from the week, and I thought it had a great chance of bouncing up before the end of the week. I sold one at a slight loss (8%) because I realized I had too much risk going into the end of that week and then minutes later sold the other at an 80% gain as BYND bounced up to close. It ended up bouncing up another 7 dollars the following morning.

I'm looking forward to this next challenge, and I wish all of you the best of luck as well. Link to my excel proof file:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GyrgONG0pJ2fcv-uHOXsLDdmXCDGJH67FY19pFfxEB8/edit?usp=sharing

 

[MasterSteve]

I'm having some difficulty uploading the BYND pic to the above post so here it is.

 

[thealb]

Any continuation on this Steve? Very interesting.

 

[abraham]

Hi Steve, How are you doing with the account now? Awesome share.

 

[MasterSteve]

Hi Steve, How are you doing with the account now? Awesome share.

Hi Abraham,
Most recently I've been working on a little project with option flow and getting that to work with me. I'm almost ready to share you'll be hearing about it soon.

 

[abraham]

Terrific my friend. Look forward to seeing it in action.

 

[KKaiser]

Hi @MasterSteve , I m new to trading overall. I like your google sheet to keep eye on the P/L. I will be making something similar to track my trades. After doing some day trading, I would like to learn about option trading first in paper money. Any beginner suggestions will be highly appreciated. Also, if you are trading with Real $$$, were you able to negotiate commission fees from TOS.

 

[roger80k]

Hi Steve,

Would it be possible to use your excel sheet for my trading? I am an excel noobie and don't know how to make one keep my trades. I would really appreciate it. Thanks

 

[MasterSteve]

Hi Steve,

Would it be possible to use your excel sheet for my trading? I am an excel noobie and don't know how to make one keep my trades. I would really appreciate it. Thanks

Sure go for it. I got it from @BenTen

 

[greygoose]

no idea how to create excel files.
how would i obtain a blank one steve

 

[roger80k]

Hi BenTen,

Would you mind posting the excel file that will help me track my trades?

Thank You

 

[BenTen]

@roger80k The excel link has been posted multiple times throughout this thread. Just scroll up and you should be able to see it. To make it your own, select the "Make a Copy" option.