The pre-marked levels paid, the tight ranges did not
The morning's cleanest work came from levels written down before the bell: an opening long in GOOG scaled out quickly with the stop pulled to break even, and a short in NVDA started within pennies of the overnight resistance level and covered in stages. The Apple attempts were the opposite kind of trade — half-size starts at the VWAP band and previous day close, added to, then stopped under the lows as planned. A late NVDA long off a headline did in seconds what the earlier grind could not.
The morning in figures
Net points are per share. Apply your own size to get your own number: at 1,000 shares, 0.91 points is $910.00. At 100 shares it is $91.00. At one share it is $0.91. The desk publishes the move, not a dollar result, because the dollars depend entirely on how you size, and that is your decision rather than ours.
The 1h 12m session is on the other side of this.
Everything above is the write-up. This is the morning itself, with the names on every call and the room talking through it.
First trade of the day was the template for the morning. A long started in GOOG right at the previous close, risk defined against the low that had just printed rather than the wider after-hours low, partials taken twice and the stop moved to break even on what was left. Nothing about it needed the market's permission beyond the first two minutes.
Apple took far more of the session and gave back less. Both attempts began at half size into the VWAP band and previous day close, one added to full size with a target set just under VWAP and a stop under the session lows, stated out loud in advance and honoured when it came. The second attempt was stopped on what looked like a single dirty fill at the level — irritating, but the stop had already been tightened deliberately because the tape was not giving a reason to grant it the full original risk. RKLB got the same treatment twice: long off the previous day low with fifty cents asked for, stopped where planned, then reconsidered rather than revenge-entered.
NVDA is where the morning was made. A short went on within pennies of a resistance level marked before the open, three quarters covered into the first flush, the remainder trailed rather than left on break even — which cost the last leg but banked the trade. Later, with a level typed into the room note but not yet published, price hit it on a Strait of Hormuz headline and the long was in and out for a fast fifty cents. The read was already written down; the news only chose the timing.
Heard in the room
TrueTrader is a live trading desk — a group of traders working the market open out loud, every weekday. These are unedited captures from that room on this morning, in the order they were said.
In a quiet market with no setup, Adri reflects on how hard it is to simply sit and wait for price to hit his level instead of forcing a trade.
“It's like you're playing tennis, and the ball is coming to your right and just swing really hard to your left.”
Before stepping away for a call, Adri urges members to understand his levels rather than copy them, and to know when to walk away for the day.
“But don't follow blindly for love or good and learn you know, it's time to stop regardless if if you have a profit or a loss.”
Every trade called that morning
Losers included. Rows with more than one leg were scaled out; open any row to see each exit.