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^ON-TAP

14 days into the new year, and many traders have already blown their accounts.

This Sunday read will help! #SundayDownload

Choose where you want to start:

• Join Free Discord! Ask questions when the market gets wild.

• Recommendations Worth Following (Check them out before you leave)

Education

• How to not blow your trading account?

Market Breakdown

• Trade alerts from the previous week via Discord Alerts

• Investors Lab Recap: Investor’s stock radar + Business news

• Elite Market Analysis: Market's Next Move + Trade Setups

^Edu

How to avoid blowing your trading account.

Account Management Advanced Lesson

Beyond the basics of risk management and avoiding FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), successful trading requires a nuanced approach that focuses on the depths of emotions, strategic planning, and disciplined execution.

What you should already know…

Risk Management - figuring out the numbers so you understand what you risk. Remember, when you place an option trade, even if you have a stop loss, expect 0.

FOMO - fear of missing out. If you can’t get over this, quit because you have zero self-control.

This can make a difference.

Paper trading - I’ve screamed this for a year and a half now, and even professional traders think it’s dumb. Before you risk real capital, paper trade. Simulate trades, test strategies, and refine your approach without financial risk. This not only hones your analytical skills but also allows you to identify and rectify potential flaws in your trading strategy.

Risk Reward - Don’t enter trades without a good R&R. New traders start with $500-1,000 dollars and will spend $100 on a trade that can only double at most, mid trend, a slow mover, trade a weekly expiration and wonder why their option contract went to zero. If this doesn’t make sense, download a free preview of my E-book, the Basics of Options Trading, or get the full reading here. In small accounts, it's even more critical that you wait for the trade that has a 1:3 or 1:4 ratio and is in your price range to allow you to correct your mistakes when they occur.

Strategic Planning and Preparation:

Treat trading like a business, not a gamble. Create a comprehensive trading plan that includes predefined entry and exit points, risk-reward ratios, and position sizing. Update and refine your plan regularly, adapting to changing market conditions. Preparation is the key to executing trades with confidence and discipline. To access our market plan throughout the week, you can get it here.

Conclusion

If you don’t get anything else out of this education section, make sure you keep your emotions in check. Trading should be treated as a sport. You must prep, be poised, not anxious, be willing to adjust but not flinch at every market tick, know when to shoot your shot, not shoot 4-20, and be a trader with good technique, knowledge, patience, and a strong hook for when you need to swing.

^{DISCORD / TELEGRAM TRADE RECAP}

Discord Alerts

Results

1. Added option contracts to $SQ runners from equity that we bought at $42.

   • Sold half at 21% (25 option contracts left)

2. /ES scalps (total of 7 points)

   • Short 4807 with 2 cons (2 points) trimmed at 4805 and then was stopped out at entry.

   • Short 4515 with 3 cons (5 points) trimmed at 4512 and 4110. The last contract was stopped at 4513.

3. $SPY 466p at .83. cut for a loss at .20

Pending Swings:

$TSLA, $BABA, $CHWY
Join Discord to Get Buy/Sell Alerts

Investors Lab

News

CPI data was released last week and was hotter than expected. Based on the data below, Wall Street is now assuming 7 rate cuts.

How does this affect the Market’s and retail’s psychology?

If we have 7 rate cuts, it may cause a hard landing that widens the wealth gap between the rich and poor. Isn’t this always the goal of the economy? lol

The market is currently balancing, figuring out if we have fully priced in the projected March rate cuts or if there is more upside to come.

Divergence is real.

My attempt to read this divergence in the market is still ongoing. You have $SPY up, some big tech down ($TSLA), so big tech up ($NVDA, $MSFT), mid-caps (CHWY) scraping key support zones, Chinese stocks on the verge of rotating higher or hitting new lows (BABA, NIO) and Gold trading at the highs, but failing to break out.

Investor’s Radar

$PLTR

• Palantir is now eligible for inclusion in the S&P 500

• Palantir and Israel Agree on Strategic Partnership for Battle Tech. $PLTR company will provide services for ‘war-related missions’

As a current investor in this company, recent news has been great. At its current price of $16, it is not a bad long-term entry. If this company were to trade deeper into $13 or $10, this would interest me in adding more equity.

One idea I don’t think too many people have considered is the idea of war. Suppose war were ever to begin or have more intensified conversations. Wouldn't PLTR be a company that benefits as it has hundreds of government contracts affiliated with tech, weapons, and security?

More on this company

Are Airline Stocks Doomed?

Recent News:

Companies like American Airlines (AAL) and Boeing (BA) have suffered plenty of trading near COVID-19 lows. Although airline companies have been untrustworthy, unprofitable, and solely relying on the government for funding support, if I am looking for an equity swing trade with a good R&R, $BA is interesting at these levels. 232 was previous support (click to view key levels)

$TSLA gives pay raises while others are doing layoffs!

Tesla Inc. (TSLA) has told its California car plant employees that it plans to boost wages across its U.S. factories in what the electric-vehicle maker described as a "market adjustment pay increase," Bloomberg reported Thursday. Read more below.

Key thought: This could be great for employees but could lead to smaller profit margins. On the contrary, if they are well above profit expectations for their upcoming earnings on January 26th, I don’t see why Elon would increase wages, knowing the company is in the hot seat.

Click to view a complete analysis of trade ideas.

^{More Analysis}

Key Earnings Week

Bank Earnings:
JPMorgan Chase & Co. $JPM Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.69 EPS (reported last week)

Upcoming bank earnings. Most important in my opinion in which can move the market is Morgan Stanley (MS) and Charles Shwab (SCHW)

(stay updated with earnings dates here!)

Bank earnings can help set the tone/direction in the beginning of the week, but if there were any pivot to the upside or downside I think it would come after U.S retail sales or Initial Jobless Claims on Wednesday and Thursday.

Free Level

Our pivot for the week will remain 4790. If this level is broken we can see lower levels discussed below. If the level is supported we can trade into our key upside targets. Other important levels are discussed below.

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