I’ve been trying to trade consistently but I feel stuck.
I follow SMA 9/20, EMA 9/200, VWAP, SMMA 200, Volume, MACD. I usually watch 4–5 stocks, check news, and then take trades (mostly call options).
I use two accounts (margin + cash). Some days I make a bit, some days I don’t trade because of limits, and overall I’m either breakeven or down.
I’m aiming for around $100–$200 per day with about $3k buying power, but it’s not working out consistently. A lot of my trades are around earnings or same-day expiry options.
Few things I’m struggling with:
- Should I focus on just 1–2 stocks instead of tracking many?
- Do people usually take multiple trades a day or just one good setup?
- Do you have a fixed % where you always take profit?
- Is buying options the problem here? Should I just trade stocks instead?
Even after trying to follow rules, it still feels like I’m just guessing sometimes.
Would appreciate any honest advice from people who’ve been through this.
Indicators, news, setups… still not working
byu/abhi28222 inoptions
Posted by abhi28222
7 Comments
Stop with the TA
You are trading options like leveraged shares without knowing anything about how they actually are priced or change price
the reason you are stuck is not due to indicators but because there is no defined edge or risk control. 0dte and earnings will chew you apart, especially with small capital. it’s like gambling with pretty charts, choose 1–2 setups at most, with the same stocks and time frame. maintain a trading journal. focus on risk, not profits. when you stop aiming for making 100-200 a day but start protecting your capital, then consistency kicks in
There is literally no formula that works. It is entirely random. Buy and ETF and hold or recognize that you are gambling.
Not really about more indicators or fewer stocks. It’s expectancy + risk control. Most struggle because options decay + overtrading, not setup count. Size matters more.
This is not the best market to trade 0dtes if you want consistent profits. This news tape can flip PA at any time. That being said, you can make 1000% gains on 0dtes in this environment, but those moves don’t tend to make a lot of sense, so it’s mostly just luck. No TA would have led you to believe AMD would be on this run-up.
With a small account, I don’t think you should have more than 1-2 trades at any given time. At that stage in my trading career, I learned to find one high conviction play for the day. That being said, you should do whatever is making you a consistent profit. However, on a short timeline for trades like you are currently doing, I would pay more attention to order flow than anything. Look for influxes of short dated far OTM positions. For example last week IREN $55 weekly calls were getting piled into while it was around $47. Didnt make a lot of sense just looking at the chart but they took off on Wednesday. Just following the flow gave me a 700% gainer if I recall correctly. Now its not a perfect way to trade but it works a lot of the time.
Those indicators have nothing to do with options.
[Trading Rule #3: Understand the Product You Are Trading – Kid Dynamite’s World](https://kiddynamiteblog.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/trading-rule-3-understand-the-product-you-are-trading/)
[The Rules – Kid Dynamite’s World](https://kiddynamiteblog.wordpress.com/category/the-rules/)
Good blog to read OP.