Daily Trading Recap - 1/23/26
Shorts feasting
TLDR
Gold-related small cap runners finally cracked and gave clean short opportunities.
BGL and NAMM were textbook fades after extreme multi-day runs.
IBRX took patience but finally started behaving once it lost key levels.
Missed the early SNDK flush but still found a clean, lower-risk entry later.
Swings stayed mostly intact despite a pullback day.
Trades I Took
BGL 0.00%↑
BGL was up roughly 150% in two days, riding the tailwinds of the gold move. It’s an African gold mining co but based in the Cayman Islands (hint hint). No fundamental reason to be extended that far, so the idea was simple: look for a fade once momentum turned.
I took a starter short in premarket around $5.35. At the open it popped, which let me fill the rest of my position. From there it was a clean fade all day. I was probably too eager on the covers.
This was one of those ideal setups where you get a big move on day 1 and then a gap up and further extension on day 2. Clear overextension, no real pullbacks, and sellers stayed in control once momentum turned.
NAMM 0.00%↑
NAMM was even more extreme, up around 300% over several days. Unlike BGL, it had been consolidating at highs, so I wanted to see one more push before getting aggressive on the short side.
That push came right out of the gates. It spiked into the daily 200 and then failed hard, halting down. Risk reward isn’t the best with that type of price action. I got short on the bounce, with room to add higher near 4.50, but it never made it back there.
I covered half on the wash to around 3.20 and the rest in the 2.80s. From the highs, this ended up being roughly a 50% fade. Can’t ask for much more than that as a short seller.
IBRX 0.00%↑
IBRX had premarket data and a lot of eyes on it after yesterday’s fake breakout over 8. The level I cared about was 7, and early on it just wouldn’t stay below it.
I tried a few smaller short attempts in the morning, but there was no real conviction while it hovered above that level. Later, it failed another reclaim attempt near 8, rolled back under VWAP, and put in a lower high right around yesterday’s close.
That’s when it finally lined up. I got short again and added once it broke yesterday’s low. I took a small piece off around 6.70 to pay myself, then covered more near 6.50. Now that it held under 7 and yesterday’s low, it’s starting to look like a bigger daily breakdown setup.
SNDK 0.00%↑
I missed the big selloff right at the open. After the last two days, my assumption was that dips would keep getting bought until something clearly changed.
That change came after the failed push. SNDK bounced, made a new high, then sold off hard which was a character change over the last few days. Stocks have their own price action nuances and when you watch them each day you get familiar with it and can spot these character shifts. Anyway, I couldn’t chase the extension and get short down there so I wanted for more structure. It bounced back to VWAP, put in a micro double top, and then broke down.
I got short there with tight risk just over the relative high and covered for a small gain near the close. It needed more time in the day to really unwind, and I wasn’t interested in holding it overnight.
Swings
BE: Got long again for a swing on a clean 10-EMA bounce.
LAES: Stopped out of a partial, still holding the rest with the original stop.
Current holdings: ASTS BE IMSR IREN LAES
Other Notable Mentions
Skipped a bunch of the nano-float gappers (MOVE, DRCT, KUST, RVYL). All merger or reverse-split names with messy structures and no clear edge. Didn’t need the headache. However they all faded well and the small cap cycle is clearly favoring short sellers this week.
Takeaways
This was a great day for disciplined short selling. The market finally punished late chasers on the long side, especially in gold-adjacent names that had gone vertical without support. My best trades came from waiting for real failure and respecting key levels instead of forcing size early. Going forward, I want to keep pressing when the character actually shifts, but stay patient when levels haven’t broken yet.