🚨 I’ll be live at 1:30 p.m. ET 🚨
The market’s been a challenge that not many of you have faced before, and it’s changing the way we need to look at things. So today we’ll look at a different way to trade than you may be used to, do some live trading and more [tap to join us for Stonkamania]
I was having a conversation with a guy just last week, and it hit me how often this subject comes up.
Doing nothing is fine. I know that sounds almost too simple, but hear me out — because this might be the most important thing I say all week.
Trading is the only job in the world where sometimes doing nothing is a good thing. Every other profession rewards output. You grind, you produce and you get paid.
But the market doesn’t care about your work ethic. It doesn’t hand out participation trophies for overtrading.
We’ve been programmed to believe that sitting at a computer means we need to be doing something. You’re watching charts, so obviously you should be clicking buttons, right?
That conditioning is dangerous. It’s the enemy of disciplined trading, and most people don’t even realize it’s happening.
The Casino Problem
It’s hard to go to a casino for 45 minutes and then walk away. Nobody wants to do that. You want to stay, enjoy the action and chase the dopamine hit that comes from being in the middle of it all.
But the less time you spend at the casino, the less money you’re likely to lose. That’s just true and I think the vast majority of people get that.
In trading, staying at the screen after your best window has passed creates the same problem. The longer you hang around looking for action, the easier it becomes to force mediocre setups, loosen your standards or give back an early win.
The discipline isn’t just knowing when to enter. It’s having the emotional control to recognize when the opportunity is over, close the platform and walk away.
Right Now, the Market Demands Patience
Summer trading makes this especially relevant. With people traveling, taking time off and spending less time at their desks, volume can thin out and conviction can fade.
You might get 45 minutes to one hour of useful action in the morning, and then the market goes quiet. That doesn’t mean you should keep trading until the closing bell.
It means your opportunity window may simply be finished.
Expected trading ranges can offer another clue. Unless something extreme happens, the market often remains within the range traders and market makers expect, then closes somewhere around the middle.
During a low-volatility session, that can leave fewer clean breakouts and less follow-through. If price is chopping inside a well-defined range, inactivity may carry a better risk-reward profile than trying to manufacture a trade.
It’s just better to do nothing on a lot of days, even if it’s counter-intuitive. Doing nothing is a position — not a failure, laziness or a missed opportunity. It’s an active and strategic choice.
I know staring at a flat screen while your P&L sits at zero doesn’t feel productive. But zero is better than the hole you can dig by forcing bad trades just to feel busy. Take the clean setup if it appears. Take the win if you earn it. Then have the discipline to walk away.
So give yourself permission to do nothing today or even the next couple of weeks. It might be the best trade you make.
Order Flow:
This is for informational and educational purposes only. These are not official alerts issued by Lance, but rather some interesting orders picked by the team at Lance Ippolito Trading.
When you look at these plays, always take the market maker move into consideration.
You can be right on the direction but still lose money if the stock doesn’t move enough. That’s where the market maker move comes in clutch.
With puts, they’re often downside hedges in case a stock tanks, especially around earnings. The further out of the money they are, the more likely they are to be hedges.
Also be sure and check when the company’s earnings date is because many of the plays we post here are centered around earnings!
If a stock is really expensive, consider a spread to lower the cost.
And finally, always remember the golden rule when it comes to buying calls: Buy dips, sell rips — and don’t chase!
If a stock’s moved a ton already today, maybe wait for a pullback.
There is inherent risk in trading. Trade at your own risk.
Note: If no date is listed after the month, it’s the monthly expiration (third Friday).
The team at Lance Ippolito Trading
Lance doesn’t want the CCP spying on him, so you’ll never find him on TikTok. Same goes for other social media sites, which are filled with impersonators, scammers and crypto bros.
You can only find him on his personal YouTube Channel — smash that Subscribe button! https://www.youtube.com/@LanceIppolito
And in his private Telegram channel: https://t.me/+-gVwEIwGJhplMTgx
Important Note: No one from the team at Lance Ippolito Trading, New Money Crew or any of its associated brands will ever contact you directly on Telegram.
*This is for informational and educational purposes only. There is inherent risk in trading, so trade at your own risk.
P.S. All Set for Today’s 2 PM ET Live Trading Session?
I’ve got two things coming your way at 2 p.m. ET…
First is a complete breakdown of my best trade ideas for this week.
The goal is to target short-to-medium-term cash opportunities starting today until the weekend.
Just like we’ve done on some of the market’s most obscure stocks…
The second is a $1,000 gift I doubt I’ve ever given away before – so you do NOT want to miss out!
We’re taking an axe to the market when we go live at 2 p.m. ET, so don’t be late!
Because I want you in here with me when we kick off.
For the record, we’ve had trades give us smaller wins and even a couple that didn’t go as planned. Plus, no one can make trading guarantees here.
But I’ve been telling you all day how the market is presenting us with more and more trade opportunities.
And right now, I’ll show you how to reach for a couple of the best ones this week!
We develop tools and strategies to the best of our ability but no one can guarantee the future. There is always a risk of loss when trading. Past Performance is not indicative of future results. Since the “Platform X” is a tool designed to help traders make informed trading decisions the results will vary for each individual user as there are multiple trades to choose from.
