Day 86 - No Trades, Boring Week, Still Profitable

October 9th, 2026

Today was officially a no-trade day, and honestly, there really wasn’t much to do. The market spent almost the entire session hovering around VWAP, with very little movement in either direction. Following my strategy, there simply weren’t any valid entries. And that’s exactly what I did: I followed the rules and stayed out.

One interesting thing I noticed was that MES actually moved higher throughout parts of the day, while MNQ didn’t really follow. That divergence was another reason to stay on the sidelines. My strategy requires both markets to be aligned, and today they just weren’t.

Under my old strategy, I probably would have taken several trades today, and I’m fairly confident I would have ended up losing money. That’s something I’m starting to appreciate more about my new approach. My previous strategy wasn’t necessarily bad. In fact, I still think it could be profitable over time. The problem was that it exposed me to more losing days, especially when the market was chopping around the middle of the range.

Now, by staying away from VWAP and only trading when MNQ and MES are aligned outside the one-standard-deviation bands, I’m avoiding a lot of that unnecessary risk. It means fewer trades, but hopefully better-quality ones.

As for this week, it’s been frustratingly slow. I’m not sure whether the upcoming Columbus Day holiday had anything to do with it, but it certainly felt like the market wasn’t interested in doing much during regular trading hours. Most of the significant moves seemed to happen overnight, which is frustrating when you’re sitting there waiting for opportunities that never really develop.

Despite that, I still managed to finish the week up a little over $200. That’s certainly not bad, especially considering how few trades I actually took.

Of course, there’s still that trade from yesterday that I missed. Had I caught it, I probably would have finished the week closer to $500 in profit. But the more I think about it, the less convinced I am that I should even count it as a missed opportunity.

It was a tricky setup. MES was approaching its second standard deviation, which is exactly the kind of situation my rules tell me to be cautious about. Yes, the trade ultimately worked out, and looking back at the chart makes it seem like an obvious entry. But that’s the problem with hindsight. It’s always easy to see the perfect trade after it has already happened. Had the market reversed instead, I would have been glad I stayed out.

So I’m not going to beat myself up over that one. Missing a $200 or $300 opportunity isn’t going to make or break my trading career. What matters more is that I’m developing a system I can follow consistently without second-guessing every decision.

And I think that’s the biggest lesson from this week.

Not every day is going to offer a trade, and that’s perfectly fine.

Some days the market trends beautifully, everything lines up, and the opportunities are obvious. Other days, like today, price just hangs around VWAP, bouncing back and forth without going anywhere. Those are the days when patience matters more than anything else.

I’m learning that I don’t need to be involved in every market move. I don’t need to force an entry just because I’ve been watching the charts for hours. And I certainly don’t need to trade simply because I want to make money that day.

Sometimes, the most profitable decision is to do absolutely nothing.

So that’s a wrap on another week. A little over $200 in profit, no unnecessary trades today, and another week of experience with my new strategy.

It wasn’t an exciting week, but it was a profitable one. And I’ll take that.

See you Monday.