Robert

Being more discretionary helps. Seems like the small cap traders that rely on back tested data from previous hot small cap market regimes are the ones that are having the most trouble. There's been opportunity in the small cap space by being able to identify the instances where shorts are likely to get squeezed and have a hard time - trappy and tight price action, huge volume, crowded shorts etc. I've noticed that you have to be much more specific with the shorts and deviate from the mindset: "all these small caps are shit and are going to 0". That's what everyone understands now which changes the narrative. When everyone thinks a company is shit and needs to fade, there's no dilution, the float is low, and we can't fade when a majority of shorts expect it to, everyone is going to hit out at the same time when we curl which leads to these huge squeezes, That's where the easiest edge is. There is little data to back this up because its only recently been happening consistently. That's why being able to identify these instances with putting the nuances together is important.

I have a question for the “adapt or die” small-cap crowd. Not for me, but for everyone who’s struggling right now: How exactly do you adapt here? By scalping, going long, or using some new price action patterns? Most of you seem to deny that edge erosion exists, so no risk to your P&L here.

$USO +3.46 Rs Conflict started to ramp up due to Trump's speech indicating escalation, equities got hit and oil started to spike higher. Wasn't going to touch this but we started to go parabolic so thought it was worth a try short because we started to deviate from the weakness of the Qs. Hit it short for a small attempt when we started to speed up at highs but stopped out. We then immediately had a fast move with an aggressive turn so I hit bigger. Started to follow through but USO had relative strength and broke highs while /CL didn't, I didn't size for this scenario so I had to stop out. Immediately got in again when we had an FBO and CL held its highs. Took off some at VWAP and stopped out at breakeven at the open because we had a pretty fast move and I was concerned this may go further. However quickly hit back short full size when we had a big shift in tape weakness and started to fail hard. Took some off at vwap and support. Was looking for VWAP on /CL and the $107 level or get out on the break of trend. News got dropped about strait of hormuz talks which led us to panic lower so I took everything off on that move when we started to reclaim. $SKYQ +0.42 Rs Shorted the parabolic in pre market and was looking for a move back to VWAP. Pyramided down once we made a lower high and stopped out when we broke trend. I didn't re hit on the FBO nor at the open because I thought there was a chance this would be trappy and go higher like CYCN and KIDZ due to the volume but I think because this was kind of moving with oil it was still ok hitting this when oil capitulated. $COCP +0.37 Rs Had registered warrants at $1.50 and was low on cash with an ok gap fail history, thought there was a short agenda here because of this. Tried shorting at VWAP, stopped out, and then re hit on the FBO. Took off 1/2 into first support and got out the rest on the reclaim. Haven't played this type of setup in a while so wasn't sure what to look for so kept it simple.

@TraderSean_V Nice work, you had more balls than me to hold through the trappy action

$CYCN nice backside fade to VWAP 💸

Removing unrealized PNL and equity when trading is a game changer. I noticed situations like this for myself: 1. When I'm up big on a position - I'd unconsciously want to hold longer beyond technicals because I want to push my equity balance up further 2. When I'm up big on a position and give back profits - I'd feel worse seeing how much I gave back and be more prone to try and hold hoping we'd go back up 3. When I'm red on a position - I'd feel worse because I can visibly see how much I'm losing and feel more eager to close out to minimize it 4. When I'm green on a position but not up a lot - I'll feel like I'm not making much and feel more eager to hold longer to have a bigger R gain 5. When I'm risking big on a position and up or down - More emotions seeing the PNL fluctuate Overall it helps you focus on trading the setup and not your PNL. Helps mitigate other motivations from creeping into your trading decisions.

$CYCN +9.64 Rs long -0.89 Rs short Very happy with how I traded this, I got antsy with sells on the longs because I didn't plan my target but entries were great. Clear initial long agenda: -$360m private placement + merger deal -Minimal dilution -Ok gap fail history -Huge volume + tight and trappy PA in pre market Started in pre market on the flag break, sold small in the first clear out but pyramided with a tight stop when we remained super tight. Sold into the move higher and got out completely when we broke down. From here I wanted to wait until the open but we got the same trappy tape action so I got back in with a tight stop. Started selling on the way up and got flag on the parabolic move at the open. At this point I thought it was a short and was planning to play the turn here but the tape was still trappy and absorbing all selling. Got long a final time and quickly sold into the parabolic move. Then flipped short against highs because I thought we were done but stopped out on the HOD move. Still with the amount of volume we did I wanted to be short but took the approach of being patient and scaled in on the move lower backside. Pyramided down when we rolled over and took small off into the push but stopped out the rest at breakeven when we remained trappy. Adapting is important - even though the short selling market has been trash, we've been getting very clean long opps that you can take advantage of

@mvnnnyyy great work manny!

It took 6 Fucking Years to make my first 6 fucking figures Zooming in it actually took 2 years with 80% of that coming in the last 7 months. I started in the markets 2020 during COVID like everyone else. I was in high school at the time covid happened and well I decided to start trading, opened broker account April 2020. 2020-2022 was nothing but errors. Just typical retail trading. Trading to trade, didnt learn, didnt know anything, no playbook, just would trade what I wanted and yea. I look back and cringe at ALL my trading stuff. I remember my "hard work" would be me going back to 2020 onDemand and saying if I invested 1k of SPY here I wouldve made 10k the next day 😂 How amateur of me to not change but at the same time I was around the wrong people and we fell into the ig furu trap and didnt have the right mentors. I made consistent money in 2022 from May- September (20k) quit my job, and in November 2022 I blew up like 6k of that in 1 day. Took about 1 month off, came back, made most of it back in 2 months, then again in April of 2023 blew it back all, I decided to get a job since not working was hurting my pockets, got a job, came back July 2023 after saving 10k. THEN I blew it ALL up August 2023. After this I quit. I was done with trading, I went back to college and was figuring out what I wanted to do. I was looking to getting my CDL, or getting into a trade school, but settled for a CC for the time being given it was free and registration date was ending in 2 days lol, also made me feel like I wasnt wasting time lol. Then I ended up in a finance class and it talked about trading and it genuinely sparked my interest again and knew I needed to give it another shot. My prior "pod" all blew up and I decided to come back alone and do it right this time. I needed to study people who were actually profitable and no more of that quick dopamine, lambo/ get rich quick guru's. This was when @TheOneLanceB started to really post consistently and I studied all his stuff at the time. and when I came back in January 2024 I applied a lot of his advice: Weekly Reviews of top plays Saving Books of Charts Reverse Engineering and doing Write ups DRC's Saving & studying tape etc. My sole goal of 2024 wasnt to make money, It was to genuinely learn the right way and get better at this game. So, I traded small size was just using 5-10 shares at the time. Focused on the Process. Then June 5, 2024 NVDA was setting up a FRD setup the next day and I studied for that trade A LOT, the next day June 6, the setup setup just as I saw in my write ups/ book of charts. I hit it and made my first 1k trade that day and that day single handedly sparked a spark in me I cannot describe. Its like this was possible and I can do it. Since then been just doing the same work, refining it a lot but simply trying to get better. FF a bit, in 2025 I realized I been consistent a bit, I spotted that April tariff turn, made 5k off that and realized I have edge in a certain playbook but would lose a lot in other stuff, kept trading small and it was until my buddy @Deconsecrated2 engrained mastering the playbook I make money in and scale it. So I did and since September 2025 been avging 5 fig months now just trading the playbook I have edge in. A fuck load of work to do and Im nowhere near my potential but im super super proud I hit this mark given 3 years ago I quit. This shit is way harder than it seems. The amount of work it requires is insane.

Happy with how I traded today, did a good job capturing the opportunity set. Could've been better prepared for the backside day in the market so I would take advantage of it more. $KIDZ +6.37 Rs Recent RS, big volume, low float, and regained nasdaq bid compliance. Saw this as a long agenda trade. Scaled in as we got tight into VWAP and took off at HOD. Pyramided more when we remained tight and had tape strength and sold everything into the push at the open. Tried small front side again but stopped out. $MU +2.53 Rs Multiple red days down + extended push yesterday with volume to a fast push lower at the open. Played the turn and sold into PMH / trend break. $META +1.63 Rs Looked for a backside day as the rest of the market gapped up and showed strength. Bought the PMH break, stopped out. Tried again and sold into the push higher. Because I was focused on other setups I sold early when this was a much better long-term hold with more pyramiding for a 2nd setup + afternoon breakout.

$BFRG +3.00 Rs Because of the nasdaq bid compliance, lack of dilution until $2, and big volume in pre market. I thought this was a long as they'd try to defend $1. Didn't execute the best and give a bunch back from bad attempts but capitalized on this well due to the pyramided position, Went in and bought the pull back, was a little too early hitting full size and stopped out 1R. Tried again but same situation here got full size too quickly when I needed to give it a little more room and took another 1R cut. When we stayed trappy under VWAP and remained tight, I thought we could break back above VWAP and push HOD. Got back in again with a started first and hit full size when we pushed VWAP. Pyramided up on the higher low + hold of VWAP and sold into HOD / 1.21 resistance and got out when we broke down. Added back when we continued to hold and took some off at HOD, tried pyramiding super tight but stopped out. Gave 1 more attempt when we got tight above VWAP, pushed up initially but got slammed lower and I stopped out.

$NVDL +0.46 Rs Main ticker everyone has been watching since late 2022 breaking a major base to the downside. Multiple positive news catalysts got sold off and we broke today. Put A size on this, started by getting 1/2 size in pre market against the prior structure, wasn't able to get full size due to pre market BP restrictions. Took off 1/5th into 169 anticipating a bounce at the open, hit the ORL but stopped out for a small win overall on the position. Started by added back against 172 on NVDA but we never were able to go higher so hit the ORL when we came back to LOD, pyramided down on the 2nd breakdown against the pivot high and got out on the trend break. Ended up not going as far as I thought we would. I didn't get involved later in the day on the pop because I thought there was a decent chance 'we'd close green because we had a big trend down day yesterday. $META -0.13 Rs Meta has a pretty big trend down day yesterday pushing the lower bollinger, because of this I was interested in playing this long if we started extending further below the lower bollinger similar to what we've seen in the past After we sped up to the downside, I played the first 20sma / trend break against LOD. Ended up not following through but was open to still play this if we broke trend after another leg to the downside. Ended up buying the break of trend again and was looking for a move back into VWAP, sold 35% into resistance and got out the rest when we broke trend. $QQQ -1.50 Rs Tried playing the trend break through 0 dte options because all of my BP was in meta and still wanted to attempt the bounce. Same idea of us getting extended below the lower bollinger. Tried once when we broke a clean consolidation and then 2nd time when we broke the 20sma but both attempts didn't work.

$META +4.92 Rs META was setting up a nice base to the downside with market weakness alongside it. Did a great job getting involved by shorting the daily level and pyramiding down on the ORL but not with holding the position. I didn't think we'd go as far as we did because the Qs weren't selling off initially which made me look to get out at 570s. In the future, taking off there was ok but size longer term and until the trend break would've been much better. Still a solid base hit though. $UGRO -0.60 Rs Didn't get any involvement in pre market / open because I wanted us to come higher so I had more range to work with. But in the open we started to curl higher which made me look for involvement. Started by shorting against PMH but stopped out into the halt up, added back immediately against 38s and was looking for us to come into LOD. Tried pyramiding down when we got back under VWAP but when the price action was trappy I hit out. Based on the volume and price action mid day it was better to look to get out after the leg we made into the 25s. $ADMA -0.98 Rs Was looking to play the backside after we capitulated to the downside on the daily. Despite the short report, I thought we were due for a bounce given the extension and volume capitulation. Started in pre market against PDL but stopped out, added when we started to turn but stopped out as well. Hit full size against LOD on the turn and was looking for a move back to PDL but we could never really bounce so I stopped out when we broke trend on the last position.

$DXYZ +2.36 Rs Overextended gap on space X hype thought it was a short because of this. Started in pre market on the turn but stopped out at highs and got back in again when we stuffed HOD. Was looking for this to come into 27s but the more realistic target was the 30s, tried pyramiding against the prior pivot but stopped out. At this point I was breakeven. Wasn't going to touch it again because it looked like we were going to squeeze through highs but we started to form a tight consolidation so hit it again on the break and covered everything on the move into LOD. Happy with this trade but could've been a 6-7R🫲🫱 win overall if I had a more realistic target. $UGRO -0.36 Rs Crazy run, learned from previous low float small cap runners that these are not worth messing with past a certain point even when it looks like there's higher EV. You'll end up shorting every turn and get tilted and deal with black swan risk of getting caught in a bad halt. Ends up becoming a high EV long as others think it is a better short. Yes it will work eventually but it is never easy or as rewarding as you thought. There's much easier setups that you can play. Originally was looking to play this backside after the exhaustion yesterday. Got in small but cut it quickly because there was little volume. Tried it again near the open against PDH and cut it for a small win when price action was trappy and it looked like it could squeeze. Came back later when we sped up towards $15, hit it short on the turn, added on the breakdown looking for us to get to VWAP but cut it when the tape was clearly absorbing all selling every time we tried to push lower.

@NathanFagan16 @PhenixInvesting Has to be, I swear the best entries on some setups are 4-6am

@Robleytrades @PhenixInvesting is this the best system to be woken up by price alerts at night? trying to find other options but seems like this is best

@PhenixInvesting while I didn’t wake up, this was the most goated attempt to get me to my desk. Gold at $4100… next time I get a text from Phenix I will have my phone alert me with an ambulance siren. This was absolute low of Asia season!!

@PhenixInvesting Great work, I wish I woke up earlier for this setup so I could've captured more of the move🥲 Last night when we started to bounce around 9pm market time I thought it wasn't worthy enough to wake up at 4am for

519% YTD on my IB account (Futures) Today +42.67% growth Metals + Trump Breaking News 03/23/26 I'll share my trading day experience here with you. I'll post charts from my Overnight Session + Premarket & some memories that will last forever 😅 Every chart is the same thesis executed on a different instrument $SI, $GC, $SLV, $GLD, $IAU, $CL, $USO

Have been working on how I execute a bit, I've been putting too much emphasis on scaling in front side which was hurting a lot of setups I traded. This would cause me to stop out super early when we had little confirmation and miss setups because I wouldn't get to full size because I couldn't front side and didn't wanna chase. This change after looking at the data will significantly improve my consistency. There were so many good setups I'd end up red on just because I wouldn't get to full size when I should be and stop out at unnecessary spots. It may feel like I'm getting a better deal being super tight against where I'm risking but most of the time it just makes getting involved more complicated and is hurting my win rate. Because of this, I started to minimize front side adds and focus more on getting full size on the backside signal which is the higher EV entry $UGL +0.25 Rs Massive puke early morning on the metals but missed a majority of the move where I got involved so I wasn't looking for much. Got involved anticipating a higher low when we started to curl higher but stopped out, tried again full size once we started to show strength and took off 50-60% at highs, pyramided on the next higher low against prior structure and sold through out the move higher and into 4500 on the futures. Got out the rest when we started to break lower. Was up 2.25 Rs but gave back a lot on the last 2 trades because I didn't plan my invalidation point and was buying the turn with a stop at the most recent structure and would stop out. However what's important is that I don't deviate from the actual invalidation point just because we turned early and I want better RR, this hurts overall EV because I'm playing the price action and not the structure. Would've been better to look to get involved against 54.60s which I would've never entered against since we went straight through it.

@BacksideTrader Where did you see dilution? I just saw 2 unregistered warrants at $25

@SmallCapSmarts asset manager

Question for full-time traders: What do you say when someone asks what you do? “Trader” is basically ruined by TikTok kids and fake lambo gurus. If you dodge it, people think you’re broke. Say too much and suddenly you’re “that rich guy”.

Happy with how I traded today, did a much better job being realistic and honing down my expectations due to the market environment. $SMCI +0.10 Rs Could've taken advantage of this much better but with how frustrated I've been this week it was better for me to lock in gains and walk away. 100% worth it to short the pops and the breakdown but I wanted to keep it simple. Massive catalyst and huge volume, reminded me of the UNH situation and was looking for more continuation despite the big gap but knew it wouldn't be super clean. Scaled in during pre market but stopped out, immediately added back 1/2 size then added to full once we showed immediate weakness against the pivot high. At the open on the fast move I covered everything when we couldn't push. $PL +1.98 Rs Strong earnings and was gapping up from a clean base, one of the leaders in this choppier market. Wasn't expecting much on this because we aren't in a market environment where we should expect clean trends. Played the PMH breakout and took off everything on the first fast move higher. Very happy with myself for being adaptable to this market and just looking to catch a leg and move on $TQQQ +0.16 Rs Clean market wide capitulation going into the close. Was planning to scale in against 23,900 on NQ (TQQQ equivalent) but made a mistake and didn't hit full size on the turn when I should've. One of the things I need to work on, I should always be hitting full size when we break to backside even if I wasn't able to get in full size from scaling in front side. I have a habit of not wanting to chase but its caused me many times to not be full size on setups. Ended up scaling out quickly because I wasn't expecting much since we were coming into the close. One nuance I missed that could've made me hold longer was that it was Friday and there was likely a bunch of people who were in puts or chased puts on the move that start to close out aggressively as they expire. Due to the market maker hedging dynamic and larger players taking off risk, it fueled the bounce.

The problem I've been having recently is expecting too much out of setups. I'll default to pyramiding until my target (which worked well in the past) but will end up round tripping gains to a loss or a small win because I think everything will trend super clean. Unless the setup is really obvious for a longer-term hold, I think it is much better to be nimble and have more of a scalpy mentality until we get more direction in the markets. Definitely has been difficult and frustrating but right now I need to remember to play defense. Withdrawing from my account and keeping size small has been helping but there's always that fomo feeling of wanting to try and grow my account as quickly as possible. Having that mindset creep into trading causes bad decision making and I need to remember that. $SWRM -1.65 Rs Not the easiest setup, worth playing given the nuances but was pretty trappy Scaled in against prior structure and pyramided down. Took 10% off at LOD. Was looking to take off more when we broke down but stopped out on the reclaim before the open. I tried to get back in on the turn but hesitated and missed the opportunity. Scaled in against HOD instead but stopped out on the halt up. Looked to scale in against HOD next but only got to 1/5th size. Since we were trappy I decided to not look for much so covered some into vwap and then the rest when we couldn't break 50. $UGL +0.53 Rs Nice speed up to the downside on the daily. Originally I was watching the miners for a bounce but saw gold panicking so focused on that instead. Because I didn't game plan well, I missed the opportunity to scale in front side against 4500 on the futures. Since I didn't get involved there I decided to keep it simple and play the trend line break against LOD. Started with B+ size but then added to A size once we showed strength. Was looking for too much on this, took off small at first and tried pyramiding on the higher lows and taking off small on the pops looking for us to come up further but ended up stopping out when we broke structure. --- Mistakes: SWRM - Expecting too much out of it when the tape showed that we were trappy and we could never hold be low VWAP. Better to look to cover most into dips and short pops and not looking for much direction Gold - Poor prep with entries, pyramiding too aggressively and looking for too much. Overall I need to work on better game planning, being more detailed with what I need to do based on the nuances rather than defaulting to what I'm used to doing.

$MU -1.12 Rs $SNDK -2.45 Rs Took these both with small size, I wasn't too convicted we'd have clean breakouts today since the daily consolidations weren't the best and we ran up into the level fairly quickly. MU tried on the higher low in pre market but stopped out, SNDK played the PMH breakout, stopped out. Tried again when we had some strength against VWAP and stopped out as well. I'm doing a much better job with sizing and being more selective which has allowed these losses to not cost much.