When I first opened my intraday chart today I saw this and thought, “Oh mygawd. It’s over.”
Knowing that I had left massive long positions in my trading account overnight, I immediately went into atrial fibrillation and started having chest pains. I chewed 6 aspirin, grabbed my English-Croatian reverse dictionary, and got ready to call 112, which is the European number to call in an emergency.
But I collected myself, saying, “Ok, Lee, Breathe. It’s 3 positions totaling less than $10,000. We can handle a loss on 10% account exposure, on a 0.63% move. Let’s see, that’s .000063 of my account right?” I don’t know, I’m not good with decimals. When I started in the business they quoted prices in eighths.
Besides, this isn’t even the whole chart. So click the key to refresh the chart and relax. And in my usual calm, self contained, stoicism I said to myself, “See, asshole! You panicked for nothing! You managed your risk so that it doesn’t manage you. So calm down and take a nerve pill. Idiot. Jackass.”
And then, after all that, and bleeding from the rectum from eating so many aspirin, it finally dawned in me that that was an old chart that was stuck in my browser cache.
After my refresh, I saw this.
I must admit that the current rally bears a remarkable similarity to the rally off the March 4 low. Does that mean a pullback is guaranteed at this point? No, but it doesn’t matter. I trade based on my extraordinarily low level of chickenshit risk tolerance. I’ll set my automatic sell orders based on trigger mechanisms that give me the best odds of getting a good price, whether it’s a small loss, small gain, or maybe keeps me in as long as these 3 plays trend higher, or at least one of them.
There have even been a few shorts come up in the screens to use as hedges. I’ll post today’s screen momentarily below.
Now, there is a moral to this story. You may be wondering, “What is that, Lee?” True, you probably aren’t wondering, but I will tell you anyway.
If you think you are having a heart attack, and you chew 6 aspirin, always make sure that they are low-dose aspirin, and not the full 325 mg. Unless that’s the only kind you have. Then take one or two. That’s the lesson.
Oh, and always carry them in your purse or wallet. The time may come when you need them to save your life. It happened to me 5 years ago (almost- April 29, 2016), and I would not be here today, if not for those little aspirin tablets I chewed that day. Do it for you. Do it for your kids. Do it for me, ok? I need your business.
