Below is a chat between spectre and karmaedge that we we thought might help give students a boost for why doing the homework daily is important and for prospective students, insight into what we do.
Jan 20, 2022
spectre —
Is the CGRM helping you overall to be more process centric?
karmaedge —
yeah, it’s getting me more and more process related. When I've 'cheated' and played in my other account, which is all bad and I've stopped doing.. I've not done well at all...
This week was all about just the THT account, and sticking to process and so far, its been a good week. Today should have been phenomenal, but.. still have to work on my exits...
I'm ok with losses, if I keep them small.. but I really don't like, when I took a position, with a correct idea, then exited early and lost out on most of the gains...
today I could have paid for the entire class by holding amzn 20-30 minutes past where I sold...
but the other thing... today was 100% Puts, which I only realized once I started filling out the CGRM today
which, in retrospect, was very very good for an overly Call centric person like me
and even beyond that, today was a huge confidence builder
small losses and much bigger gains today
spectre —
I know all of this stuff probably seems like a lot of work but it sounds like the processes/teaching methods are working?
karmaedge —
I have to do the work, it makes me feel like I have a process.
I'm also working on the OPTION-WL-MOVEMENT sheet, but that one is hard for me to do, could be my setup, and I just started so trying to work through where all the values are
spectre —
I’ve tried to be more guide post vs straight here is the answer on some things because being told and developing the experience are two very different things
karmaedge —
yeah, I need to do the work because when I don't and I just 'do it like I have been doing it' I just give money away
and some of it is just looking at what happened, did something go wrong, if so... why
spectre —
Yeah. Now you have tools, process, and some structure to help you move forward. Your feedback is very uplifting
karmaedge —
I had a 330$ loss on AMZN.. but .. I was correct, just too short on my stops.. so .. reentered.. and then had a 750$ gain, and that thought process was from THT, thesis was right, timing was off and needed to wait and have confirmation and then re-enter
my biggggggest thing I have to watch is not to back slide which is not hard if I stick to my THT account. and ban myself SERIOUSLY BAN from touching my other account
spectre —
It’s so easy to.
Yeah. One of the student is at week 8 and turned 10k into almost 50k
Lol. Maybe it will turn into his main account
karmaedge —
I'm at 14k as of today, but should have been at 24-26k today, if I had just waited for the end of day dump.. that I was pretty sure was going to happen... :/
But.. as long as I'm making progress, and building my account.. so what
spectre —
And learning…
karmaedge —
I figure.. 10k to 14k.. well.. when its a 100k then its 100k to 140k.. just have to keep working the process
spectre —
That account building is the side effect
Funny right…
Just do the work… plan the trades. Who cares if it doesn’t work. Account grows
karmaedge —
yep, for me its all about discipline. Stick to planning trades, and working out what to do
I need to do some serious r/r homework though
my exits are not good because, while I'm getting better at entries, I"m not planning exits or exit levels
and I don't fully get how to calculate the r/r before I do a trade
I'm still 'winging' it too much in that area for sure
I know it, and I know I need to get that part figured out
spectre —
Look at the levels it should go to figure out the exits/reward side
As long as you have good range between levels and good entry the risk/reward will be good
karmaedge —
yeah, I want to make sure I can do the actual calculation on it as well. I can 'feel' that it will be good. .but I need to do some math
spectre —
AMZN was 10 points of risk and 100 points of reward
karmaedge —
that's also why I'm working on the OPTION sheet, it makes me really look at what happened that day and where things were, what levels were crossed
spectre —
That option sheet is where a lot of experience building comes
karmaedge —
heh.. yeah.. I had 4 pts of risk on 7 pts reward on AMZN.. should have been 4/100
The sheet, makes me think and analyze a whole lot. I'd say filling that out, looking up the charts and options.. that is definitely homework
spectre —
I’ve been taking about the 3120/3100 levels breaking trigger a dump
karmaedge —
you said something today like 'when it consolidates below a WL that is usually a bear sign'
spectre —
Look how far the next levels on it were
Yeah, And then it did a faker move
karmaedge —
I looked at the chart.. and was like.. ok.. so that does make sense..
yeah, that was my initial stop out, but I felt it was a correct thesis, ,and it would drop
spectre —
When you get faker like that it is even more bearish. If you get stopped, it ok, go back in and with more size if you want with tight stops, it shouldn’t come back. You can use midpoint between support break and faker move as stop. So in this case 3100p. 18 vs 10 peek, so use 14. Notice, it never hit 14.
karmaedge —
I just didn't realize how much
spectre —
Trust the levels
Scale out along the way
karmaedge —
Yeah, where I was I could only buy one contract, and I really want to make sure I follow the sizing rules
in the past, I have also had huge problems with sizing way to big.. every time
'Just buy 10 contracts.. no matter what it is... AMD, NVDA, AMZN.....' and not basing it on $ for those.. like which ones will cost 5K to get 10..
just.. go get 10...
spectre —
Since I was targeting 3000, I took 3020p for $1.50 as yolo as well as the 3100p
Went to $24
karmaedge —
yeah, that is where I should have gone for sure,
would have been even better than 10.5 to 109
spectre —
One way, get in. Self half at 7-10 bucks ride the rest no way to lose
karmaedge —
and I could have scaled out
spectre —
Either way, both are good
It starts with having the idea and then using the levels to help you plan it out
karmaedge —
yep, I'm looking at it as, as long as I can make plans, and follow through. If they aren't working, cut them, according to plan, if they are working, exit them, according to plan
btw, kudos to getting such a great group together I’m in other rooms too but I enjoy the conversations here kinda a lot..
There are some good ones in those rooms too... I have spent a lot of time in other rooms but there is a lot more noise there than here
spectre —
Our whole goal is quality over quantity
And that we don’t need 20 trades
It splits your focus and leads to over trading
karmaedge —
Yeah.. I'm still working on over trading.. I am entering all trades on all symbols on my CGRM sheet just for that reason. So I can track exactly how many trades I'm actually doing... like.. in 2 days this week.. I have 16 trades... So I need to go back and see which ones I should have taken and which I should have passed on... hmm... exactly 8 yesterday and 8 today...
spectre —
Not bad
Before maybe you were doing 20 a day
karmaedge —
three of those today were SPY alone, which would normally be grouped I think
yeah, 20 and with wrong sizing
no stops
all all all bad
And with the sheets, and filling them out EVERY DAY that helps me really see wtf I was doing that day and where my head was
before it was all about feeling terrible because I lost $$$... but no analysis or really thinking about it
now its, every day, end of day, enter in all the trades, and then go to the NOTES and be flat out hones with myself about what I was thinking for each and every trade
and what I could have done better... maybe not even taking the trade?
making a better entry, better exit.. etc
and I reallllllly like being able to take things out of the equation.. sizing is a no brainer... ***% for full size, period, if 4 contracts is just over that.. take 3... if I'm not fully convinced.. go 1/2 size.. ***%..
brain dead simple
spectre —
You are doing the work and found a way forward. I can't wait to see your growth at the end of the 12 weeks, and then a year from now
karmaedge —
its all stream of thought, but I'm thinking about this all day, every day, now, vs before it was just... "hey, that looks good.. I think its going to go up.. let me buy some..." (20 minutes later) "Crap! That wasn't supposed to happen! Sell! Sell! Sell!"
spectre —
Planning makes a world of difference
karmaedge —
Now its... "Ok, what's the plan for the day? Where do I think these stocks are going to go today and why? Ok, now where do I want to look to enter? Price? What type of price action to enter?" And.. more recently... am I buying this at a discount?!?!?
spectre —
I love it
karmaedge —
And the part I'm working on.. "Once I'm in.. wtf do I want to put my exits?"
Now, I'm still working on the actual execution part OF the plans, and working to do better with making and following plans, but going from no plan to having a plan ... that alone is just HUGE
spectre —
Congrats on all your progress
