You know that feeling when you wake up and immediately check your phone?
This morning was one of those days where checking paid off big time.
Yesterday QQQ closed down 1.2%. That triggered my Dark Ticker signal at 4:05 PM. I bought calls expiring today, shut my laptop, and went about my evening.
This morning I opened my trading app to a beautiful 60% winner staring back at me. Amazon’s earnings blowout dragged the whole tech sector higher overnight.
That brings us to 18 winners out of 29 Dark Ticker trades in 2025.
Running at a solid 62% win rate this year.
The Strategy’s Real Track Record
Let me give you the honest numbers on Dark Ticker performance. No BS, no inflated stats – just the real results.
2025 Performance (Through October 31st):
- Total trades: 29
- Winners: 18
- Win rate: 62.07%
This month alone we’ve hit 4 winners out of 6 trades. October’s running at 66.67%, which is pretty damn good for short-term options plays.
Since Inception Stats:
- Total trades: 70
- Winners: 47
- Win rate: 67.14%
- Average return: 9.39%
Look, not every trade hits. But when you’re batting .670 over 70 trades, the math works in your favor. Big time.
What Actually Happened Yesterday
Thursday afternoon was ugly. Tech was getting hammered going into earnings. Everyone was nervous about Amazon, Apple, and all the big names reporting this week.
Right before the close, QQQ hit my -1% trigger. That’s when the Dark Ticker strategy kicks in automatically.
The rules are simple. When any major index (SPY, QQQ, IWM, DIA, or GLD) closes down 1% or more, we buy calls that expire the next day. Zero emotion, zero guesswork.
Following the systematic approach that has delivered 67% wins since inception.
So at 4:05 PM yesterday I grabbed QQQ calls expiring today. Small position, about $493 worth.
The Beautiful Part
Here’s what I love about this trade – I had zero clue Amazon was going to absolutely crush earnings.
Didn’t need to know.
While everyone else was sweating over whether AWS would hit their cloud numbers, I was already positioned for the bounce.
Not because I’m some genius who predicted Amazon’s monster quarter. Because when markets drop 1% or more, institutions step in and buy the dip.
Amazon’s 10% gap up this morning was just the cherry on top. My calls went from overnight holds to 60% winners by 9:45 AM.
Ring the register, right?
Why The Math Works
This isn’t some get-rich-quick scheme. It’s a systematic approach based on how big money actually moves.
When the market drops 1%, pension funds see buying opportunities. Hedge funds deploy cash they’ve been sitting on.
ETF rebalancing kicks in. All that institutional buying pressure creates predictable bounces.
We just position ourselves to ride that wave with small option positions that can deliver 40%, 50%, 60% gains overnight.
The Real Power
Since inception, we’ve averaged 9.39% per trade across all 70 positions. That includes the losers.
Think about that for a second. Even with 23 losing trades mixed in, the average is still nearly 10% per trade. The winners more than make up for the losses.
And we’re not talking about holding stocks for months or years. These are overnight holds. In and out in less than 24 hours.
October’s Been Solid
This month we’ve had 6 triggers and caught 4 winners. The two losers weren’t killers – just small losses when the bounce didn’t materialize.
But the 4 winners? They’ve been beautiful. Including this morning’s 60% pop.
YOUR ACTION PLAN
November and December are historically strong months for this strategy. End-of-year rebalancing, holiday positioning, lots of institutional money movement.
Every market drop of 1% or more gives us another shot at that 67% win rate.
Could be next week with all the earnings volatility still coming. Could be next month when the Fed meets again.
But when it happens, you’ll know exactly what to do.
Buy the calls after the close. Log off. Wake up to profits.
18 out of 29 times this year, that’s exactly what’s happened.
The strategy’s not perfect. But it’s profitable. And in this game, that’s all that matters.
Keep those alerts on.
The next trigger is coming.
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FUN FACT FRIDAY
Amazon’s shares are still cooking at ~$246 (up 10.6% intraday, market’s got till 4 PM ET to party), all thanks to AWS hitting 20% growth—its hottest streak since the pre-pandemic glory days.
Not the record-breaker (Feb ’22’s 14% blast-off owns that), but this $255B market cap surge? Straight-up enough dough to buy out three full-on Costcos, hot dog carts and all.