Thread by @OpenOutcrier

Some thoughts on the best trade I ever made.

It was the closest thing to a perfect trade I have ever made and I've never felt that way about a single trade before.

I was the perfect set up for my favorite style of trading, day-trading news using options.

You have an unknown event, that leads to a violent move in the stock and options and it all occurs on an a Friday, so I can buy cheap expiring options in size.

The news I'm referring to is the rumor the White House was considering de-listing Chinese companies, reported by BBG.

And while this trade was available across a large number of Chinese ADRs the one I focused on was Alibaba $BABA

The risk reward on this trade was phenomenal and it is exhibit 1A in the explosive power of the leverage options provide traders.

I purchased 400 $BABA 170 puts for $0.30, risking $12,000. This is equivalent to 40,000 shares of short $BABA stock, which is about $7M of exposure.

I was in the trade for about 5 minutes

Emotionally, it was a bit strange. It was the biggest trade I've ever made, but my adrenaline never went bonkers and I never got the shakes. I've had 10x greater feelings of anger and rage from 1/10th the size loss.

The best way to describe the feeling was relief.

Relief that I hit a # I've had my sight son for some time. Relief that it was possible. Relief that I'm still improving.

I don't like to talk about P&L. I believe that process is more important than results. But the reality is we are in a business where the results are staring at you in the face at the end of each day. And I'd be lying if I told you I don't have some result related goals.

When I started trading, my goal was $200 a day. There's ~250 trading days a year so that's $50k a year. Not bad for a 20 something trader with no dependents making their own hours. Now however my current daily target is a bit loftier.

I've been trading (mostly) successfully for almost 20 years. What I've realized is as you climb the ladder and level up, sometimes you can get a bit stagnant. I've gotten comfortable at times with where I was and how I was doing.

It was listening to @MikeBellafiore talk about the "Seven Figure Trader" that opened a door in my mind and re-invigorated me. It made it real and possible somehow. Why couldn't that be me?

@MikeBellafiore Three years ago I added "six figure day" and "seven figure trader" to my trading bucket list. As of Friday I can cross one of those off my list.

@MikeBellafiore One strange thing about that day, is until now I've only told my wife about it (she'll see the tax returns anyway). Its weird to talk P&L with friends who are civilians, they just don't get it usually.

@MikeBellafiore Until you've stood on the floor in the pit or sat in the chair and clicked the button, you can't understand what its like. The constant battle to suppress your emotions and urges with your livelihood on the line.

They can sympathize, but they can't understand.

@MikeBellafiore I'm sharing this because I hope that in seeing what's possible, it will inspire someone to work to get there. Just like hearing that being a seven figure trader was possible inspired me.

@MikeBellafiore I'm also very proud that the very next trade I made after $BABA was a $200 , 2 cent $AAPL scalp. I didn't change my trader DNA to get here and I hope that going forward, my DNA hasn't been changed after getting here.

I still have work to do, and I can grind to get there.

@MikeBellafiore Never stop learning or moving forward

Thanks for listening and indulging me, happy trading