Daily Trading Recap - 4/2/26
USO CYCN COCP
TLDR
Shorted USO into the oil gap-up, got chopped on both sides
CYCN gap-down short kept failing, low-quality idea
COCP short worked briefly in premarket, re-entered after open for a shallow fade
Bad stock selection day, too much forcing on low-reward setups
Trades I Took
USO
Oil was gapping up huge overnight after Trump’s address signaled no de-escalation anytime soon, and folks on Twitter were pointing out this was a fat tail event for anyone trading Brent/WTI spreads. I tried catching the top in USO thinking it was going to set up some incredible big opportunity on the short side.
Instead it just chopped me up. I caught the intraday news panic to make some back, but then it V-shaped right back and I ended up giving a big chunk of that back again. Classic case of forcing a thesis onto a name that wasn’t ready to roll over.
CYCN
This was the name from yesterday that had good news and was gapping down today. I tried to short the breakdown, but it held, and I kept trying. Such a low reward trade, and I don't know why I was even messing with it. This is the same exact thing as yesterday on ELAB, a low-quality idea where I'm trying to make something work and end up wasting energy in terrible low-liquidity price action.
COCP
This was the isolated small-cap gapper that wasn’t tied to oil. It’s a biotech company up on an FDA fast track designation, which is essentially meaningless as a catalyst. I got short in premarket and it worked briefly, but it reclaimed and pushed higher at the open to stop me out. It ticked over pre-market highs and then sold off hard, so I joined the selling and shorted again. I was only able to capture a shallow fade as it went sideways most of the afternoon.
Takeaways
Bad stock selection was the theme today. USO was a thesis trade that turned into a meat grinder, and CYCN was a low-quality gap-down short that I should have never touched. COCP was the cleanest idea on the board and even that only gave a shallow fade.
Tomorrow’s (Monday) Focus
Kill the gap-down shorts after a one-day run. If it looks like CYCN or ELAB, walk away.
Question for Readers
Have you ever had a day where you knew the best trade on the board (COCP) but spent most of your energy on the worst one (USO)? How do you catch yourself before the damage is done?
Markets closed tomorrow. Have a great weekend!