Daily Trading Recap - 1/27/26
The precious metals trade continues
TLDR
Actively traded around a core SLV short but never got the higher-timeframe break.
NUWE was a clean day-one gap fade after patience at the open.
BNAI rewarded waiting for a bounce instead of shorting a -30% gap.
Main lesson: silver is turning into a volatility trade, not a directional one.
Trades I Took
SLV 0.00%↑
SLV gapped up, providing another great short opportunity. I added on the premarket bounce per my plan laid out yesterday. Into the open, it dipped and I covered some shares to lock in gains, then re-shorted the next bounce to rebuild size. I added more on the opening range breakdown and got a quick move down to yesterday’s low, where I covered a good chunk but still held a core position.
The bigger issue was that we never got the daily bar break on silver futures, which is the level that really matters for continuation. SLV bounced again and I scaled back in some shares on that bounce, tightening my stop down to the high of day. Shortly after, silver found a daily bottom and grinded higher, making new intraday highs and stopping me out of the remaining position slightly in the money.
Overall, execution and management were fine, but the lack of higher-timeframe confirmation kept turning this into a grind.
Note: At this point the best trade on silver is probably to sell volatility via some type of net short options premium structure like a call credit spread or short call vertical. A directional short on the asset outright is proving to be a headache.
NUWE 0.00%↑
NUWE was a d1 gapper on non-material news. I initially wanted to short the bounce at the open, but volume was coming in heavy, so I stayed patient and waited. Once it failed hard, I got short risking the $5 level and added on the next lower low. We got a clean fade down into the low $3.50s, where I covered the position and locked in a solid win. I tried another small attempt later in the afternoon but cut it.
BNAI 0.00%↑
BNAI was a messy, non-linear setup. It made a huge after-hours move Friday, sold off Monday morning, reclaimed Monday afternoon, and then gapped down again today. With the stock already gapping down around 30%, there was no interest in shorting it at those levels.
Instead, I waited for a bounce into a more reasonable level. Once it got there, I got short risking red-to-green and caught a small fade. Didn’t want to hold this overnight. Straightforward execution after letting price come to me.
Swings
-Got long LUMN on the breakout over $9. Optics names showed strength today after a huge move in GLW on a $6B deal with Meta for optical fiber.
-I really like GEV for a swing but it’s announcing earnings tomorrow so need to wait and see the reaction.
Current holdings: IREN LUMN
Takeaways
Silver continues to be difficult to trade outright, even when the thesis is right. Without the daily bar break on futures, short positioning keeps turning into active management inside a range instead of follow-through. NUWE and BNAI reinforced the value of patience and price location, especially on gappers. Going forward, silver likely makes more sense as a volatility trade, potentially via net short options structures, rather than fighting it directionally.