Some trading days are great because you make money. Other days are valuable because they show you exactly where your weaknesses still are.

Today was one of those days.

Ironically, the day actually started really well. I was focused, patient, and most importantly, I was following my rules.

The Right Stocks… and the Wrong Ones

This morning I had four stocks on my radar:

• $UMAC
• $FCEL
• $HIMS
• $TSLA

In reality, only UMAC and FCEL were truly aligned with my strategy. Both were moving on earnings-related catalysts, which is exactly what my post-earnings momentum strategy is designed to trade.

TSLA and HIMS, on the other hand, didn’t really fit that framework. They had movement, but they weren’t clean post-earnings setups.

But here’s the important part: even though they weren’t perfect strategy fits, I was still trading them properly.

I was:

• Keeping position sizes around $1,000
• Using tight stops
• Respecting risk management

Everything was controlled.

Everything was working.

The Moment the Market Opened

Then the market opened.

As anyone who trades earnings momentum knows, the opening bell is where liquidity and volatility explode. Spreads widen, price moves faster, and stops can get hit quickly.

That’s exactly what happened.

I got stopped out of UMAC and HIMS right after the open.

That part is normal.

Stops getting hit isn’t the problem. That’s simply part of trading.

The problem was what happened next.

UMAC — Where the First Crack Appeared

After getting stopped out of UMAC, I actually made a really good decision initially.

Instead of stubbornly holding bias, I flipped short.

And the trade started working beautifully.

Price began rolling over and the short position was paying nicely.

Up to this point, I was still trading well.

But then something familiar crept in.

The urge to size up.

That revenge-driven voice that says:

“This one is really working… press it.”

And I did.

I doubled my position size.

Not massively oversized, but still breaking my rule.

And of course, because trading has a cruel sense of timing…

It happened exactly at the low of the day.

Right before the bounce.

Within moments, my solid short trade evaporated.

What had been a good winner quickly turned into a losing trade, and I exited with a small loss.

But mentally, the damage was already done.

Because that’s when the revenge trading instinct kicked in.

I jumped back in.

Sized up again.

And ended up burning about $160 on price action that should have been a clean short winner.

HIMS — Where Things Really Fell Apart

If UMAC was a crack in the foundation, HIMS is where the building collapsed.

HIMS was up 40–50% in the pre-market after announcing a partnership with $NVO.

Fundamentally, the news actually seems bullish for both companies. Longer-term, it could be very positive. On top of that, HIMS has extremely high short interest, and it genuinely feels like the type of stock that could turn into a large short squeeze.

But none of that matters.

Because the problem wasn’t the stock.

The problem was how I traded it.

I actually started responsibly.

My initial position was 45 shares — totally reasonable.

But after getting stopped out…

The revenge cycle started again.

My position sizes escalated like this:

• 45 shares
• 200 shares
• 300 shares
• 700 shares

That final trade was roughly 15× larger than what I should have been trading.

And that’s the dangerous part about revenge trading.

The escalation happens fast.

The Brutal Irony

Here’s the ironic part of the entire day.

As I’m writing this, my daily P/L is floating back toward breakeven.

That oversized 700-share trade actually worked.

But despite that, I’m still sitting on roughly -$929 in realized losses from all the flip-flopping, oversized entries, and emotional decisions earlier in the session.

And even if I somehow close the day green…

Today will still be a bad trading day.

Because this wasn’t good trading.

It was chaos that happened to temporarily work.

The Exact Moment Things Went Wrong

The most frustrating part is that the day didn’t start badly.

In fact, it started really well.

Even after the market opened and my stops got hit, I was dealing with very small losses.

Nothing dramatic.

Nothing dangerous.

Nowhere near a $900 drawdown.

The day only spiraled the exact moment I sized up on UMAC.

That was the turning point.

Had I simply stuck to my $1,000 position sizing rule, even the flip-flopping and messy price action would have resulted in minor losses.

Nothing catastrophic.

The Hard Truth

The setups weren’t the problem.

The stocks weren’t the problem.

The price action wasn’t the problem.

The only problem today…

Was me.

And that’s a difficult thing to admit.

Because it means the solution isn’t finding better setups or better indicators.

It’s fixing discipline.

Why Today Still Matters

Days like this are embarrassing.

I feel ashamed and frustrated writing this.

This exact pattern — revenge trading, oversizing, losing emotional control — is the precise behavior I’ve been trying to eliminate.

And all it took to trigger it was one small decision:

“Let’s just do it and see what happens.”

That’s how fast things spiral in trading.

One rule break becomes two.

Two becomes five.

And suddenly you’re dealing with losses that never should have existed.

Final Lesson

Today is a perfect example of how dangerous position sizing really is.

If there’s one lesson I’m taking away, it’s this:

Risk management isn’t about protecting your winners.

It’s about protecting yourself from your worst impulses.

Because when discipline disappears, the market doesn’t need to beat you.

You’ll beat yourself.

And today was a clear reminder of that.