1/5/2026 - Daily Market Recap
$SIDU main trade
TLDR: Slower day with a few solid ideas but a lot of patience. SIDU was the main focus again. I managed risk well, avoided forcing trades, and missed a couple of good MNTS entries by choice.
Post Market Review for January 5, 2026
SIDU
This was the main focus both pre-market and during the session.
Pre-market, SIDU was gapping up and extending. I got short on the breakdown under vwap, risking 5.65. The idea was simple: after a big prior move, I was looking for exhaustion and a rollover.
At the open, it immediately washed out. I covered some into yesterday’s high/close. After that flush, I was open to the idea of a bounce to add back, rather than pressing the downside blindly.
Later in the morning, SIDU bounced a bit more than I expected, but it never breached my lowered stop at hod. During that time the daily candle was putting in a huge lower wick, and the price action started to look like it wanted higher. Instead of forcing the short, I cut the rest at breakeven, basically covering near the top of the bounce.
I did re-enter after the bounce turned and we were back under vwap. After some additional consolidation, I added a bit more, lowering my risk even further. Eventually, SIDU started breaking down toward new lod, but the move lacked volume and there was no real downside follow-through. That was my cue to cover it up and move on. This felt more like distribution than a clean continuation lower, so I’ll reassess it tomorrow.
Overall, nothing spectacular here, but happy with how I traded it.
SOPA
I covered the SOPA swing on the opening wash. Nothing fancy here. It did what I wanted into the open, and I took the exit instead of getting greedy.
ALAB
I got stopped out of my ALAB swing. No real lesson other than accepting the stop and moving on. The idea didn’t work.
ZSL (swing)
Silver was gapping up pre-market, so I cut the ZSL swing on the bounce. That is the risk with swing trading, sometimes you wake up to a big gap in the wrong direction :(
Current swings I’m in: BE LUNR ONDS RDDT
Other notable small cap movers from today:
MNTS
MNTS was frustrating, but in a good “discipline-building” way.
Out of the gate, it pushed over pre-market high and triggered my one-minute signals. I passed because the trigger fired directly into pmh support. In hindsight, it gave a great bounce with excellent risk-to-reward before continuing lower. I missed it, but I don’t regret the decision given the location.
Later in the day, MNTS gave another really clean pullback entry right back into pre-market high. Again, I let it go. The reason was conviction. I didn’t feel confident enough to take full size, and I’m actively trying to stop taking “just to see” trades. If I’m not willing to take my normal size, it’s usually a sign I should be avoiding it altogether.
Midday, the company announced a 5M share PIPE offering with a single investor at $5.40.
TMDE
TMDE was an intraday runner on no news but never really went parabolic. I avoided the 1-minute signals because there was psychological resistance just below $1 and the price action wasn’t that clean. That avoidance likely saved me a loss. Later, the 3-minute started triggering and had a nice pullback to $1, but this falls into the “IR setups” category for me, which historically aren’t big money makers. I stayed hands-off here.
What I’m Taking Away
The biggest win today was selectivity. I missed a couple of good MNTS trades, but those misses came from sticking to my rules, not hesitation or fear. I’m okay with that.
Going forward, I want to keep reinforcing this idea: if I’m not confident enough to take full size, it’s probably an avoid. Patience and conviction matter more than catching every move.