Everyone asks me the same thing: How do you spend your time every day? What are you actually doing in that 30-45 minutes?
So I decided to show you.
Every stock I trade has a chart. Every chart has resistance lines, support lines, and the 200 moving average. That is the foundation. My favorite chart to track is the IADSS 4-hour extended trading hours chart — it gives powerful signals, and honestly, I do not feel like you need much more than this. Couple it with a 12-hour chart when you are really trying to hone in on a perfect entry, and you have everything you need.
Let me walk you through what I look at.
ALAB — Old Support Becomes New Resistance
Astera Labs had major support at $140. It tested that level again and again until it finally broke down into the prior trading range between $80 and $105. What does that tell me?
I know that if I am going to sell a put, I sell it at a support level. When the stock gets back to resistance, I sell a call to bring in income. And since that old $140 support did not hold, it now acts as new resistance.
The rules: old support becomes new resistance. Old resistance, when broken, becomes new support.
This is not theory. The other day I sent out an alert that I sold calls on ALAB. We were right near the old support area — new resistance. We got up there, rolled right over, and sold off. Exactly what I expected.
Does it always work perfectly? No. But I always have a plan. If we break back above and I get called away, I start the wheel — selling puts or strangles/straddles with a call. I always have a next move.
AMD — The 200 Moving Average as Your Floor
AMD is showing textbook structure right now. Old resistance is still holding as support, and the 200 moving average is sitting right underneath, reinforcing the level. When I see this, I know I can trade against it.
If I owned a call that was underwater from a bad entry up higher, and the stock has come down to this support level, what would I do? I would roll my call down or forward in time — based on my rules.
My rolling rules: 30% max debit for the width of the spread.** If I am rolling from a $260 call down to the $220 level — a $40 roll — I will not pay more than $12 to do it. 30% of $40 is $12. I follow these rules all the time. I do not deviate. I will bend a little, but not much.
And here is what I layer on top: am I sitting with a minus-two mean reversion at a support level? Because if so — that is a beautiful setup. AMD sold right off into support with a minus-two mean reversion and bounced. Perfect spot to sell a put. The 200 moving average right underneath it. The market leaves you breadcrumbs. All you have to do is follow them.
NVIDIA — Support, Divergence, and the 200 MA
NVIDIA has support at $170. I can sell puts there, especially when I couple it with mean reversion at minus-two or buy divergence.
Here is what buy divergence looks like on NVIDIA right now: one low was here, the next low was a little lower — but the mean reversion reading is getting stronger. These are the kinds of trades I take.
What else am I watching? We are trading right below the 200 moving average, trying to get back above it. I factor that into my trade decisions. I know resistance sits around $200. So if we get back up there, I am selling a call *above* $200 — not at $190 — because we are probably going to test that resistance level. I do not want to get called away early.
Tesla — The 200 MA Is the Gatekeeper
Tesla has clear levels. I have old resistance that turned into a breakout — tried, tried, finally broke out — and that level is now new support. We got a perfect retest.
That is why I had no problem sending out multiple videos about rolling my calls down, rolling them forward, buying an extra year at a discount. I was comfortable because we had significant support where the stock was testing.
But here is where I pump the brakes: we broke below the 200 moving average. Until we regain it and close above it for a couple days, I am not converting more of my modified synthetic longs into full synthetic longs. The charts will drive that decision. Minus-two mean reversion will drive that decision.
(If you are not sure what I mean by rolling or MSLs, go back and watch [MM15 — Rolling and Adjusting a MSL] and [MM16 — Rolling Synthetic Longs on Tesla].)
My Thoughts: Start Small
If you are not comfortable tracking ten stocks daily, start with one or two. Learn where resistance is. Where support is. Where the 200 moving average sits. Take your time to learn how your specific stocks trade. Become a master of a few, then start adding one or two more.
At any given time, my 30-45 minutes a day tells me: should I be selling a call? Could I be selling a put? Are we in a trading range where I could sell a strangle? I teach strangles in Class 203 — it is my favorite course to teach. I love being on both sides of a trading range, bringing in money on stocks I am willing to get called away on. It is just an ATM for me.
I hope this sheds some light on how I spend my time — and helps you start building out your own routine.
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