algos offline.
wedding 8 days out.
capital protected.
the decision #
paused all strategies may 1.
manual override on everything.
no trades until may 20.
why:
wedding may 10.
honeymoon may 11-18.
can’t monitor properly.
not worth the risk.
what’s offline #
options strategies: all paused
SPX premium selling: offline
QQQ delta neutral: offline
sector ETF rotations: offline
crypto bots: all paused
BTC momentum: offline
ETH mean reversion: offline
altcoin scanner: offline
futures: already minimal (10% allocation)
ES momentum: offline
everything dormant until may 20.
account status may 1 #
balance: $456,420
ytd: +$18,620 (+4.25%)
annual pace: 12.8%
april result: +$9,732 (+2.18%)
capital preservation mode.
protecting ytd gains.
what happens during pause #
may 1-9: wedding prep, rehearsal, final details
may 10: wedding day
may 11-18: honeymoon maui
may 19: return home, rest
may 20: review markets, maybe resume
may 21+: back to normal if conditions favorable
lessons from march pause #
march: waited too long to pause (VIX >20)
lost $9,582 before fully stopping.
this time: proactive pause.
can’t monitor = shouldn’t trade.
preventive philosophy working.
learned the hard way that monitoring matters. the NexusFi thread on automated trading VPS has good discussion on this - even with VPS and colocation, you still need eyes on systems during volatile periods.
regime check may 1 #
VIX: 15.8 (optimal)
correlation: 0.58 (excellent)
volume: 3.6M (normal)
conditions: actually favorable
irony: pausing during good conditions.
but wedding > favorable conditions.
priorities clear.
estimated opportunity cost #
normal may trading:
first 3 weeks: ~$3,500-$5,000 expected
pause cost: ~$4,000 opportunity
worth it:
wedding once.
trading every month.
no regrets.
system maintenance during pause #
daily checks:
servers: running (monitoring only)
data feeds: active (collecting for analysis later)
alerts: set for anomalies only
nothing executing.
just watching.
tonight (may 2, 2:15am) #
algos offline since may 1.
wedding 8 days, honeymoon 9-16 days.
account $456,420, ytd +4.25%.
conditions favorable (VIX 15.8, correlation 0.58) but pausing anyway.
estimated opportunity cost ~$4,000.
worth it: wedding once, trading every month.
resume may 20 if conditions stable.
capital protected.
2:15am friday. algos offline may 1, capital protected $456,420. wedding may 10 (8 days), honeymoon may 11-18. all strategies paused: options (SPX, QQQ, sectors), crypto (BTC, ETH, altcoins), futures (ES). conditions favorable (VIX 15.8, corr 0.58, vol 3.6M) but can’t monitor during wedding/honeymoon. estimated opportunity cost $4k vs wedding + honeymoon value = easy decision. ytd +4.25% protected. resume may 20. priorities clear: wedding > trading.
-AK