An honest daily journal from a working software engineer who trades: pre-market micro-cap scalps, the occasional leveraged bet, and a boring-on-purpose long-term core. Real trades, real prices, real wins and losses — no hype, no signals to sell you.
One gap, stated plainly: the figure above sums the sessions I've written up. My account's own year-to-date total is +$3,472 — the difference is a week (Aug 10–13) I haven't published yet, including a -$1,079 loss in $BW that will be my second-worst position when I write it up. I'd rather show the seam than round it away.
The fourteen biggest days, good and bad. Tap any one for the fills, the reasoning, and what I got wrong.
Net realised P&L per name across the published sessions. Note $SKHU and $SKHZ — the 2x long and the inverse on the same underlying. Both red.
My first quarter, +$4,323 across 91 trades — but two patiently-held positions made $5,420 and everything I actively traded gave back $1,097. Read the recap →
I reconstructed my entire brokerage statement. The winners were fine — 21 names made +$3,107. The account still finished down because of a handful of oversized, leveraged losers. Read the analysis →
A plain-English breakdown of volatility decay and daily resets — why 2x and inverse funds bled me even when I wasn’t wrong about direction. Read the explainer →
The real pre-market scalping method, what the data says works, and the three specific leaks — leverage, revenge trading, and win/loss asymmetry — that sink it. Read the deep dive →
Napco gapped 20% on earnings I hadn't checked — two orders made $1,153. Then eight orders in Expion360 lost $60, each entry lower than the last. Read the entry →
Buckle gapped 5.8% on earnings I hadn't checked. Best day since July, and more than half of it came from a position I bought two minutes before yesterday's close. Read the entry →
SGLY made $340 in ninety seconds. I bought it back four more times as it fell and finished with $71. Then did the same thing to a bread company. Read the entry →
Two days ago I said I'd report the YMM position whichever way it went. It gapped down and cost $192. Posting the loss at the same size as the wins. Read the entry →
Bought at yesterday's close, sold into this morning's open. Two sessions, four orders, +$619 — against sixty-four orders on Friday that made $43. Read the entry →
One buy placed four minutes before Friday's close, one sell at Monday's open. It made nine times what the other sixty-three trades that week made combined. Read the entry →
Every trade from the account statement, no cherry-picking: 890 trades across 44 tickers for a -$2,059 stretch. The small scalps were net green — the leveraged SK Hynix pair and FCUV are what hollowed it out. Read the entry →
-$37 on the day. SKHU -$406, STLN +$326, VATE +$43. Running total -$2,059. Read the entry →
-$14 on the day. SKHZ +$210, ASPN -$163, SPCH -$71. Running total -$2,022. Read the entry →
-$237 on the day. SKHU -$246, SPCH +$135, SKHZ -$77. Running total -$2,009. Read the entry →
-$53 on the day. SKHU +$109, SPCE -$82, SKHZ -$81. Running total -$1,772. Read the entry →
-$756 on the day. EDBL -$327, FCUV -$296, SKHZ -$75. Running total -$1,719. Read the entry →
60 FCUV scalps churned into a -$410 net as it ran to $17, offset by a +$163 KPTI dip-buy into its 72% crash and a +$50 SPCE win. A -$184 day; running total -$962. Read the entry →
The leveraged SK Hynix bet finally worked — SKHU +$481 on the bounce after the chairman bought shares — plus a clean +$163 NUWE scalp. My best day of the stretch at +$671. Read the entry →
An $11 VIVK scratch, then -$468 from holding the leveraged SK Hynix pair (SKHU and SKHZ) on both sides. A -$433 day; running total -$1,450. Read the entry →
-$1,108 on the day. SKHU -$1,302, FIRY +$308, SKHZ -$114. Running total -$1,017. Read the entry →
+$351 on the day. SKHU +$225, EDBL +$143, TSLG -$17. Running total +$90. Read the entry →
-$17 on the day. ANY -$232, VIVK +$180, SKHU +$139. Running total -$261. Read the entry →
+$38 on the day. TSLG +$166, DOMO -$83, GOOG -$45. Running total -$244. Read the entry →
-$332 on the day. LABT -$222, SKHU -$160, AGPU +$110. Running total -$283. Read the entry →
-$347 on the day. SKHZ -$232, CRNT -$190, SSPC +$68. Running total +$49. Read the entry →
+$284 on the day. ADVB +$315, SHPH -$87, SKHU +$51. Running total +$396. Read the entry →
+$261 on the day. CJMB +$189, SKHZ -$70, SSPC +$66. Running total +$112. Read the entry →
+$106 on the day. SKHU +$90, SPCH +$30, ATAI -$15. Running total -$150. Read the entry →
+$216 on the day. ERNA +$216. Running total -$256. Read the entry →
-$709 on the day. NXTC -$589, HODO -$120. Running total -$471. Read the entry →
+$275 on the day. AGEN +$304, HODO -$32, FAC +$3. Running total +$237. Read the entry →
-$20 on the day. USDE -$78, ELAB +$63, SPCE -$47. Running total -$38. Read the entry →
-$152 on the day. HODO -$140, TRNR -$30, WRAP +$17. Running total -$17. Read the entry →
-$59 on the day. VTAK -$80, BATL +$30, SPCE -$10. Running total +$134. Read the entry →
-$280 on the day. ALAR -$400, HODO +$119, SPCE +$0. Running total +$194. Read the entry →
+$59 on the day. ALAR +$59. Running total +$474. Read the entry →
+$4 on the day. ELTX +$4. Running total +$415. Read the entry →
+$411 on the day. USDE +$390, SPCE +$21, TLRY +$0. Running total +$411. Read the entry →
Closed 1,000 Snap shares at $4.40 for a -$466 loss — my worst session of the quarter — while setting up the SPCE and TLRY positions I'd carry into July. Quarter ends at +$4,323. Read the entry →
In at $1.70, out at $1.65 the same session. My fourth consecutive losing trade in DAIC, chasing the memory of the day it made me $1,897. Read the entry →
Sold 600 Plug Power at $2.50 against a $2.79 cost, and flipped out of the SPCE shares I'd bought a day earlier at breakeven. Read the entry →
Bought Tilray at $4.75, sold at $4.61. Also rebought SPCE at $2.76 — the same price I'd paid in April, after the whole squeeze round-tripped. Read the entry →
Closed DAIC at $1.65 for -$178 and BATL at $1.19 for -$38, then immediately opened two new positions the same session. A -$216 day. Read the entry →
Sold BATL at $1.27 for -$160, lost $120 on a same-day NIXX round trip, and quietly kept building the DAIC position that would cost me later. Read the entry →
Sold 1,500 DAIC at $2.07, scalped $6 out of SNBRQ, and bought BATL back at $1.43 — higher than the $1.62 I'd just sold it at. Read the entry →
Churned 3,500 shares of DAIC and 1,500 of SNBRQ across 23 prints to net +$46. Account peaks at +$5,635 — and never goes higher. Read the entry →
Bought 1,410 shares of CID HoldCo at $1.85 and sold 1,400 at $3.20 the same day for +$1,897, plus +$309 closing BATL. My biggest day-trading session. Read the entry →
Sold all 1,300 shares at $0.90 against a $1.01 cost. Small, clean, and handled exactly the way I'd later fail to handle FCUV. Read the entry →
Two sessions of buying, no realized P&L — but this is where my trade count started climbing from three trades a week to dozens a session. Read the entry →
Virgin Galactic ran from the low $3s to an $8.90 intraday high on an earnings beat, a strategic-investor report and a short squeeze. I sold 554 shares at $7.80. My best trade. Read the entry →
After six weeks of simply holding, I sold 500 of my 1,054 SPCE shares at $4.40. One decision, six weeks of patience, $778. Read the entry →
My first trades: accumulating 1,054 shares of Virgin Galactic around $2.85 across three sessions. No P&L yet — just the position that made the quarter. Read the entry →