3 May 2023 should been a profitable trade.
SPY dropped from 415 to 408, a whopping $7 change.
SPY bear put credit spread at strikes 419/420 should have netted $300.
QQQ bear put credit spread at strikes 326/327 should have netted $300.
That should have been a total of $600 credits.
However, the day ended with a loss of $50 and $100 respectively, a total of $150!
What went wrong?
The 3 mistakes
1. Know knowing a Fed rate decision is coming up.
The market moved wildly because of this decision coming up. Not knowning when is a big mistake. The markets should be avoided to not be in the whipsaw.
Leasson learned: monitor the calendar often.
2. Too greedy
The day itself saw immediate gain of $200. Forgoing this $200 in the hope of $100 for an extra day is a big risk!
Lesson learned: take profit as early as possible to reduce risk.
3. Stop loss is too tight
Stop losses were put in place on the last day and was hit by the wild swings.
Since the upside is $300, the protective stop should be -$300.
Having the protective stop of -$50 or -$100 is too easily hit and getting out of the game.
As planned carefully, the strike prices should never been hit and should expire worthless.
Lesson learned: On 0 DTE let it expire worthless as planned. Put protective stops further away.
Good things learned
This is the first time using protective stops, and it worked! Well, that costs $150.