Small, quick trades worked in a pre-Fed waiting room
With the Fed two days out and volume thin, our desk worked short-duration continuation trades and banked profits early rather than holding for extension. Longs in a space name and a chip name were taken off into strength, a Tesla long was scaled and trailed out, and one short needed a second attempt after the first was stopped. A long in a mega-cap that was breaking a daily level stopped out, with the exit admitted as late.
The morning in figures
Net points are per share. Apply your own size to get your own number: at 1,000 shares, 6.61 points is $6,610.00. At 100 shares it is $661.00. At one share it is $6.61. 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 11m 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.
The read going in was a waiting room: no economic calendar, the Fed on Wednesday, and no expectation of volume. That read shaped the sizing and the holding periods more than it shaped the direction. Trades were taken on continuation, partialled quickly, and trailed rather than held for a target.
The Tesla long was the morning's spine. It was entered on anticipation of continuation with a dollar of stop room, partials came off within minutes, a breakeven stop went under the rest, and the remainder was trailed out on the turn rather than given back. Rocket Lab was more instructive for what was declined than what was taken: a resting short above was cancelled when the tape turned, replaced with a long at the prior day's close, then tightened under VWAP once it was clear the overhead level left no room, and taken off for a small gain. Micron was marked at a trigger well in advance, filled with favourable slippage, stopped under the weekly pivot, and after a fill landed in the wrong account the position was re-established at a better price and closed in full on the push.
Not everything held. A Google long just over a round number went against a daily level that was breaking down, and the exit was late and said to be late. Oracle was shorted, stopped out over the highs, watched for a turn, and re-entered higher with the stop again over the highs; that second attempt worked and a breakeven stop went on the balance. A Tesla short later in the session gave back a couple of dollars before a partial came off, and the decision was made deliberately not to stop at breakeven on the basis that the name looked weak. That is a judgement call either way, and worth noting as one.
Every trade called that morning
Losers included. Rows with more than one leg were scaled out; open any row to see each exit.