Market Movements

^{*Weekly Return is calculated as market open of the previous Wednesday, to market close this Tuesday (yesterday); Current Level is Tuesday’s (yesterday’s) close.}

News Snapshot

• Investor Caution Prevails as Markets Snap Two-Day Rally

• Wall Street's Rollercoaster Last Week

• New Equal Weight Index Options Launched by CBOE

• Cramer recommends trimming Nividia; Is it time to buy?

TL;DR

“Good-To-Know’s”

In trading and investing, cognitive biases often lead to irrational decisions — like holding onto losing positions too long (loss aversion), chasing recent winners (recency bias), or believing a lucky win was the result of skill (overconfidence bias).

For example, you may think your recent win was due to skill, but it could’ve just been luck. That’s the overconfidence bias — and it’s one of the most dangerous for traders and investors alike.

Quote(s) I Like

Thought Throttle

Often times we get in the way of our own trades. The level of level-headedness and self-control required to be a successful investor/trader is unbelievably high. The markets bring highs and lows, and if you let fear or greed steer your decisions, you open yourself up to impulsive, emotional decision-making. Focus, Discipline, Patience, Resilience—these are descriptions of someone with the right mentality for success.

Now, vague characteristics and descriptions of the ideal trader don’t help much if we don’t have a path to get there—actionable steps that we can take to elevate our trading and ability to make money in the markets. So here are 5 things that you can do (or stop doing) today that can change your investment and trading trajectory for the better.

Lengthen Your Time-Horizon

The shorter your time horizon, the less likely you are to actually make money consistently—and that is what we are working towards. Consistency. As participants in the world of finance, we know the power of compounding. Use this powerful knowledge and apply it to your options trades and investments.

Imagine the greatest possible investor. They would be old and wise, not following the false pumps of the market. They would be able to discern between a valuable company geared to bring about the future and a short -sited company that won’t be around to see that future. Their view on the investment would be similar to that of Warren Buffet’s—intending to hold the company’s shares indefinitely.

Compare that to the worst investor imaginable. It would be that which you see in the extreme cases of someone on Wall Street bets. Someone who has not done the work and believes that every opportunity could make them a millionaire. On Monday, their sole focus would be on how they could double, triple, or even 10x their money by Friday—we know how this usually works out.

Humility and Adaptability

Both of these tie in directly to your ability to learn, which is defined as the difference in behavior given the same situation. It is not a spectator sport, it is married to action. You can read countless tips, tricks, pieces of wisdom, strategies, etc., on options selling and expose yourself to new information. But, if your trading behavior doesn’t change, then you have learned nothing.

To open ourselves up to this correction in our behavior, we need humility. Recognize that you have not fully figured out the market. There are areas where you could improve. humility opens us up to change for the better, while adaptability harnesses new information and incorporates that change. This is the process of learning.

Commit to learning and you will progress faster than you could have imagined.

Emotional Regulation

There are many practices and methods that can help you manage your emotional responses—whether it's deep breathing, journaling, mindfulness, or simply stepping away from the screen. Everyone is different, so it’s important to find what genuinely brings you clarity and helps you ‘zoom out’ when things get heated.

The key is to recognize when emotions are taking the wheel and have a go-to strategy for grounding yourself before making any decisions. Over time, developing this self-awareness can be the difference between a reactionary trade and a strategic one.

Discipline Over Motivation

While both can push us toward proper and worthwhile action, discipline is a better long-term strategy. Motivation is fleeting and will wear off. Discipline engrains the action in you and essentially builds you into a machine.

Motivation is powerful, but it’s also unpredictable—it comes and goes depending on your mood, energy, or environment. You might feel unstoppable one day and completely drained the next. Discipline, on the other hand, is built through consistency and repetition. It doesn’t rely on how you feel in the moment. It engrains the action into your routine until it becomes second nature—automatic.

Over time, discipline turns effort into habit, and habit into identity. That’s when you stop needing to convince yourself to show up—it’s just what you do. In trading, where the grind is real and emotions run high, discipline is what keeps you steady when motivation inevitably fades.

Detach Identity From Outcome

A well-planned, carefully executed trade can still lose money. Conversely, a poorly conceived, sloppily managed trade can sometimes turn a profit. That’s why it’s crucial to evaluate your trades with a level of objectivity—separate, as much as possible, from the final outcome.

This isn’t to say that results don’t matter. Of course they do. But if you judge your decisions solely by whether they made or lost money, you risk learning the wrong lessons—or missing the right ones entirely.

Take this example: suppose I placed a terrible trade on March 29th that happened to end in profit, and a solid, well-reasoned trade on April 12th that ended in a loss. I could very easily draw the wrong conclusion. Maybe I look up and notice, “Hey, March 29th was a new moon and April 12th was a full moon. Clearly, I should only invest during new moons!”

That’s an exaggerated example (I hope), but it illustrates the point: causation isn’t the same as correlation. Trading, like most things in life, is messy, complex, and full of nuance.

Bonus Tip: Keep a Trading Journal

In order to properly understand why a specific decision was made or trade was entered, we have to step into our thought process at the time. This is where the trade journal comes in. It serves as a personal log, capturing the reasoning, emotions, and context behind each move. By documenting not just the outcome but the motivation behind our actions, we create a valuable reference point for future learning.

When we review past trades, we're not just analyzing charts—we're revisiting our mindset, the market conditions, and any external factors that may have influenced us. This level of reflection gives us the ability to recognize patterns in our behavior, identify what’s working, and spot areas where we're prone to make the same mistakes. Over time, this process helps us improve and adapt, sharpening our decision-making skills and building greater consistency in our trading approach.

Final Thoughts

Becoming a consistently successful trader or investor isn’t about discovering some secret strategy or chasing the perfect setup—it’s about building yourself. It's about creating a mindset that can withstand pressure, resist temptation, and stay sharp in both calm and chaos. The market will always be unpredictable. There will always be noise, hype, volatility, and uncertainty. What separates the winners from the rest isn’t luck—it’s the internal foundation they’ve built.

Trading mentality is a process to work at constantly—these 5 are meant to be a starting point, not the entire comprehensive checklist of a ‘mental master.’ Use these tools for transformation. The trader you are today doesn’t have to be the trader you’ll be a year from now. Progress is always available to those who seek it.

So take this seriously. Commit to the process. Keep showing up, keep learning, and keep refining. If you do, the compounding effect won’t just apply to your portfolio—it’ll apply to you.

This game rewards the patient, the prepared, and the persistent. Be that trader.

Throttle Q&A

Why sell options instead of buying them?

Buying options can pay off, but the odds are often stacked against you. Strategically selling options flips the edge in your favor. You collect premium upfront and let time decay—one of the few market certainties—work for you.

With a long-term mindset, selling options becomes a high-probability, steady strategy. It’s less about prediction and more about positioning.

Here’s why it works:

• You collect premium up front – immediate cash flow with every trade.

• Time decay is on your side – every day that passes benefits the seller.

• High probability of profit – most options expire worthless.

• It’s a win-win setup (ideally, not always) –

  • If the option expires worthless: you keep the full premium.

  • If it’s exercised: you were likely comfortable with the outcome (owning shares or selling at a target).

This approach requires patience, discipline, and a long view. It’s about stacking consistent base hits—not chasing home runs. And over time, consistency compounds.

How Do You Stay Consistent as a Seller in Volatile Markets?

Volatility can be tempting—it increases option premiums and the potential for profit. But it also raises risk. The key to consistency in volatile environments is sticking to your system and managing risk, not chasing oversized returns.

Here’s how to stay grounded:

• Appropriate Trade Sizing – don’t get greedy just because premiums are high.

• Stick to High-Probability Setups – let the math guide your trades, not your emotions.

• Leverage High Volatility – Sell options when implied volatility is elevated to collect richer premiums. Avoid forcing trades in low-volatility environments where the risk-to-reward isn’t in your favor.

• Accept That Some Trades Lose – your edge plays out over many trades, not just one.

Volatility is part of the game. Your job is to stay consistent through it—not to get swept up in it.

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Disclaimer

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