Yo Pit Crazies,

I closed three positions in one morning. Palantir (PLTR) puts, Cisco (CSCO) puts, Chewy (CHWY) puts. None of them were disasters. None of them hit a stop. I closed them because they could not make money anymore. That is it.

Most traders would have held all three. Watched the bid shrink, told themselves it could come back, waited until the options expired worthless. That is how accounts bleed to death. Slowly. Quietly. One dead position at a time.

The most important skill in trading is not finding great entries. It is knowing when a position is dead and pulling the plug before it costs you more.

There Is a Bid Today. There Might Not Be One Tomorrow.

Here is what happened with Cisco. We owned puts that expired after earnings. Stock kept making new highs. The puts were way out of the money, trading for about 60 cents with the March expiration still weeks out.

I asked the room. Jose said move on. I agreed. The logic is simple. There is a bid today. There is no guarantee there is a bid tomorrow. Cisco gaps higher on earnings? Those puts go to a nickel and you lost whatever was left.

We sold for 61 cents. Not glamorous. Not the kind of trade you brag about. But that is 61 cents per contract going back into the account instead of evaporating.

When the Math Says Stop, You Stop

The Amazon (AMZN) double calendar told the same story from a different angle. We paid $1.65 for the spread, closed the short legs for 18 cents and 25 cents. Now we are into it for $2.08. The stock sat in a tight range. No movement, no catalyst, nothing.

I gave it one more day. Not because I was hoping. Because the decay cost of holding one more session was basically zero. Amazon picks a direction, great. If not, close it and move on. That is the calculation. One extra day of cheap optionality, then cut it.

Chewy got the same treatment. Stock bounced from $26.50 to $28. Conviction to sell was gone. I started working out of the position on the downtick.

Clear the Book, Stay in the Fight

Three positions closed in one session. None were big winners. Some roughly breakeven. The Cisco puts made a small profit. The point is not the P&L on any single trade.

The point is dead money kills you. Every dollar sitting in a position that can not profit is a dollar not working somewhere else. I would rather close three mediocre positions and redeploy that capital into something with real edge than hold on and hope.

Hope is not a strategy. The math either works or it does not. When it stops working, get out. Your account will thank you.

Andrew Giovinazzi