23 trades to make $46

Twenty-three separate prints across two tickers to finish +$46. On paper a green day. In practice, the clearest early warning in my whole log.

The churn

In DAIC I bought 3,500 shares around $2.06 and sold 2,010 around $1.99 across seventeen prints, netting -$30. In Sleep Number (SNBRQ) I worked 1,500 shares in and out around $0.72–$0.77 over six prints for +$76. Net: forty-six dollars. Read: the single day two decisions made $2,206 →

Compare the effort to the result. The day before, two decisions made $2,206. Today, twenty-three decisions made $46 — and left me holding a much larger DAIC position than I'd intended, because I kept buying more than I sold.

Activity is not the same thing as edge. Twenty-three trades that net $46 aren't twenty-three small wins — they're a strategy quietly telling you it doesn't scale with frequency.

Running total: +$5,635, my peak. Every session after this one is a story about giving it back. Read: what 890 trades looked like once I reconstructed the statement →