I lost 2.7% of my portfolio today. That isn’t exactly the kind of sob story that will compel someone to start a GoFundMe account for my benefit, but it stands in sharp contrast to the money-making bonanza that I thought today would be, especially as the market was melting down last night.
The Dow blasted almost 1,600 points higher (!!!!!!!!!) and I got stopped out of my DIA short instantly.
I lost money on a number of things:
DIA, as mentioned
FXI short, which was just plain idiotic
GLD short
SPY December puts
A smattering of other smaller positions
The day sucked, but c’mon, the kind of loss I mentioned can be conquered.
After shrieking like a little girl this morning, dumping positions left and right, I re-entered some new ones, such as QQQ, which ended the day with a shooting star.
I also shorted the small caps, IWM, which had a spinning top candlestick.
Losing money is no fun, but the only trade I am angry at myself about is the FXI short It was just lazy and stupid, and it didn’t even dawn on me that a Trump wipeout would do great things for their stock market. So: shame on me!!!!!!!
As for the put options, that was a meaningful cash loser on the day, but I’m happy with myself for a specific decision I made on Tuesday. You see, yesterday I was long November 20 $756 puts. I decided that the vol crush on those would be horrific, so I went shopping for a replacement. What I wound up with was:
The same underlying (SPY)
A higher strike price ($760 instead of $756)
Most importantly, a farther-out expiration (Dec.)
The same quantity of options
The amazing thing is that as unwelcome as the cash loss was on my December puts, the loss on the November ones (remember – same quantity!) was FIVE TIMES WORSE!!!!!!!! In other words, an unwelcome loss would otherwise have been a truly horrific wipeout. So – – yay, me, for choosing to make that change.
The fact the mid-terms are behind us has made things seem instantly quieter. I’m pretty tired right now (not much sleep), so I’d probably better get a bit of rest. Now, at long last, we can turn our attention back to simple things like earnings, economic reports, and business announcements.
In closing, if there’s one chart that characterizes the shift in the political landscape over the past month, it’s this fellow right here:
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