In Spring 2025, when I finished the last of the group coaching for LTFIV, one of the things I mentioned to that group, and on X for weeks prior, was that I was going to be making my own transition back to longer times frames and away from day trading.
I had a few reasons for that. One, I was tired of being glued to a screen all day, two, my background was as a value investor, and I wanted to get back to long holds where I could maximize returns over months rather than out in minutes to a few hours. And three….I just didn’t feel like me anymore. I had gotten so effective at day trading that it became almost addictive. What I didn’t know was how that part was going to affect me as I made a switch away from it. More on that soon.
Those of you familiar with anything I’ve built know that I take a first principles, systems approach to every new advancement and method. So I started with an objective/vision and asked “is that possible” ….and then started working backwards to get to where I’ve landed now.
The very first iteration used the bonus section of LTFIV as the jumping off point and leveraged the double MACD system I developed to have clear visibility to move integrity and entries. It became known as 6/12 as it utilized options both 6 and 12 months out as both operator and signal vehicles. It worked great…. but, I didn’t like the variability issues still present, or the risk controls, None of these were out of the ordinary mind you, but they were not good enough for my objective.
What I envisioned was a system that worked around human nature, rather than pretending it didn’t exist. To do that, I knew the system had to tackle the primary drivers of human error, and unforced human intervention.
There are six main things that cause that.
- Too much variability at entry
- Lack of absolute clarity on whether a move was ongoing, or whether you have a cue to leave
- PnL stability and downturns on any holds
- Inadequate risk management
- Flat market dynamics and decay
- Interpretation relying on skill and ability in the moment
All of these trigger human survival instincts, and all of these are a virtual guarantee of doing the dumbest thing possible with the best of intentions in the worst possible moment to do them.
So when I looked at 6/12, while it got rave reviews from my testers for what it could do, I knew it wouldn’t be able to hit all 6 drivers…. It was close and a great start, but just not close enough. It was at this point as well, that I had another epiphany…if I wanted to make a real change, the very first thing that needed to go, was actually me.
Every time I came back to my screens the smaller time frames kept pulling me in. I missed major entries on my new 6/12 method as I was still staring at the tree and missing the forest. I came to a realization that no one ever talks about…the better you are at day trading the harder it is move away from it. You spot opportunities everywhere.
Now imagine. Here I was in full hermit mode, working away up to 60 hours a week in OnDemand and building something that while imperfect relative to the objective I had set, was already miles and miles ahead of where LTFIV left off…and I was the biggest obstacle in my own way to fully utilize it.
I was disgusted with myself. Truly. But I was also grateful that I saw the reality of it clearly, with no excuses. So before I did anything else to build out the method, I had to rebuild myself.
I’ve been in the markets for a long time, and I knew what the vision I had for the future was capable of if I could figure it out. I’ll be damned if I’m going to let that addiction to day trading stand in my way. And so, …. I took a hard look in the mirror, at my habits, my surroundings, my everything… and I burnt it to the ground. I burned the ships to ensure I had no retreat possible.
To do that, I changed everything. How you do one thing is how you do everything, and while I’ve always been disciplined, I took it to a whole new level.
Change through denial, discipline and purpose.
I got up every morning before 0500, I dropped 30lbs, got back to the gym 6X a week, changed my diet to just meat, fat, and fruits, I dove headlong into development, and changed my screens and rules so that weekly, daily and monthly were my only views. To break any of it, would need to be a conscious decision to fail.
Now some of you reading the above will think “what is this self-help trip down memory lane and what does it have to do with anything?” …..and you will discount it. That’s fine, maybe it won’t apply to you. But, without the process I went through for me, I would not have built what I have now. Not even close.
It’s why the first thing I told my current testers was that in order to succeed at this, you will need to kill the trader in you. They all discounted that as well, figuring they’ll just follow the method and all will be fine….and every single one of them came back and said I was right.
Why? Because as soon as things became quiet in a long hold, the trader would pop out looking to spice things up. As soon as a spike or news hit, the trader would show up to protect a position or trim away all their future earnings they’d have if they simply held.
In short, with the best of intentions, the trader would do the dumbest thing possible to erode the ability to maximize returns over time. Returns that over time can reach 100%+ to 1000%+ depending on the positions you take.
By comparison, that trader is stepping over dollars to pick up pennies.
That disciplined approach directly applied to my development process. First on the list, clarity that a move is ongoing, a dip is just a dip, and when its finally time to get out. I had a pretty good start with that with the double MACD system I had developed for LTFIV, so it seemed like the obvious place to refine rather than build anew. Where I landed was the next iteration I referred to as “the corkscrew” …. custom double MACD settings per time frame and expiry that ultimately worked across three time frames per side to provide absolute clarity.
That then led to tackling the next big driver…variability. There were two elements to this. When you enter, and what you enter on. This led to the development of BOB (Bottom of Box) and where I could calculate the bottom in my pm notes and simply wait for it to arrive. Not a curl, not a crossover, but often days to a week ahead of those events occurring. When I finally figured that out, it was a bit of a Eureka moment to say the least.
That early entry allows you to ride completely underneath normal variability found on a ‘confirmation’…it simply doesn’t touch you. It was a big win.
That led to examining what I needed to enter on. The vehicle I would use for the trade/position itself. And that, led to shelving 6/12 completely and folding all of the above into the first iteration of what I described as the “teeter totter”. Even better, I no longer had to calculate BOB, I designed the corkscrew so that ThinkorSwim showed it to me automatically.
For the first time, I could see an entry coming days ahead of time, I could see clearly once I was in whether I was safe to stay, I had next to no variability and it was built so that I could counter and negate any normal downturns or dips. Risk management was built in by design and all decision points were binary, not reliant on something as brittle in moments of stress as skill. It tested phenomenally and I honestly thought this was it…I found it!
But anyone who knows me, knows I never stop improvement, and I still wasn’t happy with how it handled decay or flat market dynamics.
So I went back to work and arrived at the missing piece, the three points of contact. This innovation closes the gap on all six drivers. Its universal and makes Puts smooth and easy, the effect of decay gets neutralized and flat market dynamics no longer have a material effect on anything. Even better, it simplifies everything.
Along the way, I developed a way for smaller accounts to use the system and get around the higher cost of long-range options while providing a recurring income source.
It was a ton of work but while the method is getting rave reviews in testing, to me the real value is more personal.
None of that, absolutely none of it…would’ve happened without that hard look in the mirror and the new habits I had to adopt.
So what’s the moral of this story?
If you want something to change in your performance or your success, be prepared to work harder than you ever have, and be prepared to let go of things you just built, the excuses you tell yourself, the things that don’t meet the mark of your future vision, and most of all the things that make up you today.
That last one is tough. After all that version of you got you this far. But it’s a little like the concept of sunk costs. What really matters is maximizing your capital going forward and pursuing the best options for that. What you’ve spent in the past to get to that decision no longer matters.
I don’t know if my new method will ever broadly see the light of day though I certainly have gotten a ton of requests for it. Moreso, since I’ve returned online, I’ve gotten request after request for help. Seems like there is a real lack of good information in this space, and a lot of noise, drama, and spectacle instead.
I’m just one guy, and the hours don’t exist for me to help everyone that’s asked or in any meaningful way beyond an email exchange or a post on X. But I recognize the need is there.
So to that end I’ve opened up in a limited way the ability to access coaching once again. I had shut this down after Spring of 2025, but the asks never went away.
I don’t know how long I’ll have it available for or what the true demand for it will be but if you’ve got questions, maybe I can help with an answer.