Best Trade in September:
We entered a SPY Put calendar spread on 8/30 and held it for a good portion of September and it helped cushion the fall which we experienced for most of the month. Half the spread was closed out on 9/21 for a $65 profit. When it continued up enough to suggest a large drop to the SPX 4083 fireline was not likely, we locked up a $44 profit on the second half for a total profit of $109 or 24.5%.

Worst Trade in September:
On 9/7 AAPL broke to a new all-time high using the Voodoo treeline at 154.70 as support. We don’t like to chase all-time highs, but the next day when AAPL retested the fireline for support it seemed a safer place to try and participate in a name outperforming the market. Safer, however, is not safe. We lost less than we would have if we had chased AAPL at all time highs. But by the time AAPL broke Voodoo treeline support enough to convince us it wasn’t going to hold, there wasn’t much value left in the spread.

We lost the full $312 spent buying 3 call debit spreads.

Account Recap for the Month:
The Voodoo Mastery account took a bit of a hit in September. We had hedges in place for exactly the sort of decline we saw but they only partially offset the losses we took from losing bullish positions.

A down month, or a loss of any kind, is never any fun. However, it is a necessary element of trading and the only way to avoid drawdowns is to avoid placing trades. In many ways what we did in September is exactly what we want to be doing: hedging opportunistically when the environment is ripe and waiting for pullbacks against support to put on long positions.

By doing this consistently, we endeavor to keep losses minimized when things go against us and make the most of gains when things go our way.

So while September was not a great month, it’s also not a reason to stop doing what we’re doing.

Account Recap Year-to-Date:
With the service recently launched, we still don’t have a full year of performance to benchmark against. We began tracking “Mastery Trades” in April recording trades we took in our personal accounts which fit the guidelines we employ in the service. In June we began taking those trades in a dedicated mastery account which we funded with an initial $30,000

As of the end of September, the value of the account had risen modestly. The modest performance is the result of market conditions which favor “bunt singles.” So that’s exactly the game we have been playing.

Since May, the market has been working its way into a high in choppy manner before starting to come back down in a choppy manner in September. That’s not what one wants to see when swinging for the fences. Getting on base can win ball games. And it can keep you in the game for those times when a more aggressive approach is called for.

We are going to keep turning the crank looking to take advantage of what the market offers us and make the most of it.

In Conclusion:
While scanning for options trades which fit the criteria for inclusion in the Mastery, we try to share everything we’re seeing in the markets. Whether that’s Henry’s idea to pick up YM futures as they were visiting a Voodoo fireline during our September live trading session or David’s alert about opportunities to pick up Ethereum near September lows, we’re always working to bring you actionable insights whether or not they fit the asset classes, timeframes, or risk profile of Mastery trades.

We hope you’re finding these alerts, running trade room commentary, and recorded videos useful in finding your own trades in addition to the ones we take in the mastery account.