Can you believe Q1 has already ended? For me, this quarter was all about risk management, specifically reducing my impulse trades, including oversizing. I did a decent job. I’d give myself a B-.
I had 5 days where I was slow to hit the brakes, but I was able to hit the brakes, and overall protect my capital and mental state. I was also able to pinpoint what I did on each of those days:
early entries - no structure to define my risk and to trade against, and jumping in before the morning played out
bias filter - coming into the day with a bias as to what price would do and trying to prove it right versus staying present with what the chart was showing
I then looked at my profitable trades, and I saw that I’ve continued to choke my winners. There were plenty of trades where my profits could have easily been doubled.
The question that has become the center of my work is:
What is the single thing that, if successfully executed, would double or triple my profitability?
For me, the answer is to continue to reduce my impulsivity, specifically my activated actions - actions I take when my nervous system is sparky and overrides my better self.
The two things that have helped me do this are:
My contingency plan, aka my drawdown playbook, which I put in place last year. It helps me catch myself before a big spiral. If you haven’t built one out, I highly recommend it. I talk about it here in this edition of TTR: Drawdown Playbook.
And mapping out the triggers that lead me to go rogue. I have a section in my trading plan called Triggers and Self-Management where I detail this out. The sooner I recognize I’m in an activated state, the quicker I can stop myself.
So coming into Q2, I look forward to continuing to rebuild trust with myself, minimizing risk, and getting ready to roll again towards the end of the quarter.
Upcoming Events
1️⃣ A two-part presentation: an overview of my strategy that resulted in my 260% gain last year + my experience in the USIC. This will be hosted virtually at Alex Marenco’s Meetup.
Alex Marenco Stock Market Investors Meetup
Date: April 15, 2026
Time: 7:00 PM PT / 10:00 PM ET
Fee: $20, includes the recording
Click here to register.
Alex is a former Portfolio Manager at William O'Neil Capital Management and a current consultant to portfolio managers. His webinars cover the market from A to Z, including general market health, internals, leading sectors and industries, top CANSLIM stocks, top year-to-date names in the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000, leading IPOs, world markets, and stocks currently in buying range.
2️⃣ Change of plans. My community lives to see another season. 🫣 I was concerned about not keeping up with it, but I’ve gotten feedback that it’s already been so helpful as is. And so it continues. ✨
My community includes a weekly morning market session, AMAs, and workshops on topics like how to define risk or how to add structure into your trading so you can meet your trading goals.
Morning Market Review
Topic: Market, Shortlist, and Chart Review
Date: Every Monday
Time: 9:00 AM ET
Fee: Free
Find all events in my community. Click here to join.
SPX Review and Outlook
SPX flushed out just a bit further on Monday, before starting a leg up. It then landed in the same area of indecision from the previous week.
SPX Daily Chart
At first I thought we were going to roll over from here, especially when we opened down on Thursday, but that selling was quickly absorbed.
In the spirit of maintaining objectivity, here are the potential scenarios for the upcoming week to remain aware of:
Sideways
A digestion of this first leg up, rotating between the shaded area and 6,472, which is current support. We may see fakeouts in either direction, making it more difficult to trade until a clearer direction develops.
More Upside
Follow through and a continued rally to 6,700-6,773. We could see a bit of indecision before more upside, but ultimately we will see a level holding that will serve as support for the upside. Price has now pushed back into the same zone where we saw that patch of dojis from March 23-25, but this time it did so with stronger buying. This is giving me V bottom vibes, so I can see a continuation up. And when I zoom out, I can see that the earlier doji patch may have been the first attempt at stabilization, followed by a final flush-then-rise, like a Wyckoff spring.
Rolling Over
Even with the recent absorption of sellers, strong moves higher can still occur within a broader decline. A loss of 6,472, or failure to hold within the current range, would open the door for another leg lower.
I have to admit, going slow has been really challenging for me. I’ve felt impatient, I’ve felt annoyed, and I’ve wanted to move faster. But just like an athlete in recovery, you cannot rush the process. (For those of you just joining me, the recovery I’m talking about is from the worst drawdown of my career, which happened in Q3 of last year.) And while this quarter has definitely challenged me, I can also see, just in reviewing, how much the things I’ve put in place are here to protect me, and that it really is only a matter of time before I get back to trusting myself and pressing the gas more actively toward my profit goals.
We have all heard “trust the process,” but it’s just as important to understand what progress actually looks like. It’s not always a gazillion dollars. Sometimes progress looks like more self-control, losing less, or being able to step away from trading. After all, P&L is a lagging indicator. Stay patient with yourself. You’ve got this. 🥳
