OldFarts Futures and IRA Trading Journal

This is not a futures trade, but an IRA trade:
Bought 100 shares of BP @ $38.77
Sold 1 contract of $37 Jan 16, 2026 call @ $6.825 ( plenty of time )

Earnings at the end of this month.
Dividend date 9 Nov 2023

 

It has a pretty juicy dividend

 

No trades last night - TDA maintenance and didn't want to get stuck holding a losing futures trade.
This morning, had to go get something refinanced at a lower rate - went from 10.75% to 7.75% interest rate ( took 3 hours )

Bought 100 shares of Ford - sold 16 JAN 2026 $10 calls for $3.30 - bought 16 JAN 2026 $8 put for $0.94 - already made $236 on the deal and $0.60 dividend sometime this month...around 5% divi per year...

My IP provider also sent me an email stating there will be maintenance "sometime between 12 AM and 6 AM"

I also changed the name of this thread to more accurately describe my intentions:
OldFarts Futures and IRA Trading Journal

 

Made a quick $40 on /GC short.
Shorted at 1991.50
Covered at 1991.10
Had a tight stop and got triggered on the bollinger band bounce.
Profit is a profit and I'll take it. Do this 10-15 times a day, and it's a good living.

Reason I got in was a double top MACD
I still think we may see another drop, but we'll see what happens...

 

Also watching the /ES.
Bouncing around between the 50% & 25% fib:

 

Went and made another cup of coffee and missed the /ES drop...always another trade right around the corner....

 

/GC -> re-looked at the chart using a 15 min time frame, and it appears that there's more room to the upside.

We'll see what the market decides to do.... Indicators mean nothing if there's no follow through on price action.

MACD & ADX are pointing upwards, so it appears there's room to run to the upside on a longer time frame

 

Made several stupid mistakes this morning:
I woke up at 3:00 AM, was ready to trade around 3:30, when I had clear indications of a bottom bounce, when there was a MACD cross over, and price action was following that indicator.
I didn't pull the trigger....lost out on $450 profit.
Then, /ES started pulling back, but in my head, I saw the bull flag forming, but MACD was saying a potential drop was coming. I was having conflicting indications, which should have told me to stay out, but my hard headed ass decided to short, and got my ass handed to me instead.

 

Don't normally look at longer time frames, but it appears that US markets are in a small wedge pattern.
We may eventually break out or breakdown



Prior attempt at a break out failed:

 

So far in the IRA, I'm + $270 ( or so ).
I haven't posted all of my in's and out's of the options collars + dividends ( which I've been getting most of my profits on). I just keep adjusting them as the stocks go down ( making money on both sides of the options collars ).
Not worried about the price of the stocks going down...I am protected with options collars

 

FYI, in case anyone here is into photography:

I thought I'd post this here:

Canon EOS-1D X Mark II DSLR Camera (Body Only) for only $2999 at BH Photo video. This is a $3000 discount!!

I had to pick one up....insane price...and DSLR's are going away, and going all mirror less now.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1220852-REG/canon_eos_1d_x_mark_ii.html

 

Markets started dropping...got up at 3:30, but by the time I got the computer up and running, and made coffee and woke up, the move already started.
Waiting on a reversal now........not sure that'll happen since the dollar is in a slow upward trend for now.

 

went long /ES at 4362

 

out /ES 4363.75
not a huge profit, but I'll take it

 

Reasoning behind the /ES trad this morning:
MACD and ADX were forming a pinch + double bottom on the chart + price was above the 20MA and it was curling upwards:

 

Nice, profit is profit

 

Left a lot on the table, but my idea is, profit quickly multiple times a day, and it adds up.

 

Classic fibonacci rejection + the dollar started to rise after hitting some support.
Didn't trade this one

 

Trying to post trades in real time is tough...I think I may have to give up on the real time posts, because I'm missing out on potential profits.

 

All good, I don’t mind a slight delay