Heather Vanek

Director of Small Account Growth

"Anything can happen, so size appropriately and don’t become emotionally attached to a stock or a trade."

Who is Heather?

Heather’s trading journey began in 2015 with swing trading stocks. It was during the 2020 COVID lockdown that she discovered her passion for options trading. Drawn to Simpler Trading’s community, her first class with Allison Ostrander on Butterflies followed by John Carter’s Small Account class, which deeply resonated with her disciplined approach. Since joining Simpler Trading in 2023, Heather has worked closely with John Carter, evolving from behind-the-scenes support to a Content Provider in the Small Lot Trading room.

With a particular love for trading options on SPX Heather also trades futures and excels in both day and swing trading. Her favorite strategy is Butterflies, complemented by verticals, using tools like Squeeze Pro, Quant Pivots, Voodoo Lines, Fibonacci, and Spot Gamma to identify high-probability setups. Her trading philosophy hinges on disciplined risk management—sizing positions to withstand a full loss if markets gap unexpectedly—ensuring resilience in any scenario.

A strong advocate for journaling, Heather views it as a critical yet underrated tool for uncovering insights about markets and personal trading habits. In the Small Lot Trading room, she complements John Carter’s bold style with a less aggressive, smaller-sized approach, emphasizing emotional mastery and mindset. Through her detailed trade analysis for every trade she alerts, Heather takes complex strategies and breaks them down into clear, easy-to-understand lessons, guiding traders to build confidence and skill in their trading journey.

Where Can I find Heather at Simpler?

The Small Lot Trading Room combines Heather Vanek’s disciplined trading approach with real-time education, live trade alerts, and actionable market insights. Members gain access to live trading sessions, daily trade reviews, and proven options and futures strategies designed to help traders build consistency and confidence.

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Heather’s Courses

Discover Proven Strategies for Consistent Daily Income Without Watching Charts All Day

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Heather’s Trading Plan

For monthly income and to grow my long term wealth.
To grow mentally and emotionally as a person. Trading successfully requires a huge amount of self reflection. When you can learn to properly assess yourself and improve areas of weakness as a trader, that growth naturally flows into your personal life as well.

Swing trades where I can take profits anywhere from 1 day to two weeks.
Intraday trades on SPX where I either sell credit at exhaustion levels, or target closing prices via butterflies.

My main goal is a positive equity curve. I try not to set monetary goals as that can sometimes backfire. Though, a 100% gain per year is reasonable.

Look for high probability setups within my technical parameters. Establish my plan for the trade which will include the risk as well as my targets before I enter the trade. Journal.Every.Trade!

Options and Futures

Bullish trending stocks and indices (positively stacked EMAs) with a pullback to the D21.
Bullish trending stocks and indices with a daily squeeze and 30 min squeeze.
Reversal trades on indices that have reached, or gone beyond, the H2 or L2 on the QuantPivots and do not have momentum.
End of day butterflies or debit spreads.
SPX ATM (at the money) Iron Flies that are opened during the first 30 minutes of the cash session and closed a couple of hours later, to collect about 2-3 points of premium.
SPX Iron Condors, opened on Thursdays, closed the following Tuesday to collect about 2-3 points of premium.

Bullish swing trades on stocks – pullback to the D21, within +/-1 ATR.

2 daily closes below -1ATR of entry.
2 daily closes below major support such as a Fireline.

For swing trades: +2ATR when there isn’t a squeeze; +3ATR when there is a squeeze.
For EOD SPX trades, I take off half when they hit a 100% gain and let the rest cash settle.

For my small account (<25k) no more than 5%.
For my larger account 2-3%

Review overnight action on the futures markets as well as premarket activity on any open positions.
Review the economic calendar for the day and make note of any reports/speeches scheduled to occur during the cash session.
If any of my open positions are set to open near my target, place exit orders before the bell in an attempt to close out for an optimal price.
If the market has gapped down overnight, check stocks on my watchlist to see if they are set to open near my desired entry.
Read the Founder’s Note on Spot Gamma and update any key levels that have changed overnight (Walls, Key Gamma Strikes and SG Index & Vol. Trigger).
Review the Trader’s Almanac.
Receive lots of pre-market encouragement from my dogs and reward them with scratches behind their ears.

Journal any trades entered or exited during the day.

Indicators: Squeeze Pro; Monster Momo; Quant Pivots; PMZ; Voodoo Lines; Keltner Channels.
TOS to chart
TastyWorks for options trades
Tradovate for futures trades
Spot Gamma
The Stock Trader’s Almanac (by Jeffrey Hirsch)
Google Doc to journal trades
Google Sheets to document trade stats.

I journal my trades every day that a trade is entered, exited, or a significant change happens mid trade. This helps me stick to my plan and it also helps me identify any patterns within my own trading as well as technicals to watch for that could improve my trading. Journaling can help point out details about a trade that a spreadsheet can miss, so don’t skip this!

Simpler Trading trader live sessions and classes.
Youtube for interesting new trading strategies.
Psychology and Mindset books and podcasts. Even podcasts targeted at entrepreneurs can be beneficial for sharpening a trading mindset, as achieving excellence for high achievers is the primary focus.

The three best ways to “hack” your trading mindset are to have a well documented trading plan; size your trades appropriately; journal.
Going for a run after a big win or loss clears my head, brings dopamine down to base level and dissolves frustration.
It’s easy for me to get high on my own supply, so after a string of big wins or hitting a new ATH on my account balance, I scale WAY back on my trades for about a week or two in an effort to avoid the “euphoria tax”.
Transcendental meditation after the market closes to remove all the “noise”.

Anything can happen, so size appropriately and don’t become emotionally attached to a stock or a trade.
Ignore the news. Charts matter. Journalists & Analysts don’t.
There’s no crying in trading. We have the best jobs in the world. A bad day for us is always better than a bad day for a firefighter/police officer/military service member.

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Heather's Courses

Small Account SPX Strategy

Discover Proven Strategies for Consistent Daily Income Without Watching Charts All Day

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John In the Media

Chat With Traders: MORE Aggressive Trading, MORE Million-Dollar Wins w/ John Carter

August 11, 2022

Returning guest and veteran options trader John Carter has become increasingly aggressive with his trading tactics, and as a result, has booked a multitude of large profits during the past few years.