Happy Monday, traders…

Ben here.

I recently closed out one of the biggest and best trades of my entire career on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) 7/19/2024 $190, $195 and $200 calls.

I had been waiting for this setup for not months, not weeks … but years.

Legendary trader Stanley Druckenmiller, famous for a compounded 30% annualized return over decades as a portfolio manager, said “I like the concentrated bets. I like the fat pitches and the swing big. And I also like it when you don’t see a fat pitch, stand there, and let the pitches go by”

So, when I saw this AMZN pitch coming at me, I swung big…

I went “irresponsibly long” because I have enough experience to know these setups don’t come along every day, every month, or even every year.

Waiting for this “fat pitch” to come along required patience, but staying in this trade for as long as I did took even more.

I recently talked about “The 3 P’s” that every trader needs, patience being one of them.

Today, I’ll show you exactly why patience is so critical in the options market (and how it led me to make one of the greatest trades of my life).

Trade Like a Farmer

If you were to jump in a time machine to a little over a century ago, nearly everyone you know would be a farmer.

And back when most of us were farmers, you couldn’t expect a bountiful harvest every season.

You would spend most of the year waiting, preparing the soil, and planting seeds. 

But then, once late fall came around, it was time to reap the benefits of your hard work.

Why am I talking about farming? Because I view trading very similarly. Both require an incredible amount of patience, foresight, and discipline. 

In trading, you have to know when the setup is looking like a particularly “fat pitch” and size up accordingly.

In farming, you have to diligently plant seeds in the exact right spots all summer, so that you can take advantage of a massive harvest in the fall.

And of course, the opposite is true…

In trading, you must recognize when the market environment isn’t playing into your strengths and size down in these moments.

In farming, you must recognize when the environmental conditions aren’t ideal and plant less.

But recently, my trading has been a bountiful harvest, and I’ve been taking advantage of several factors playing into my strengths.

Let’s look at a few of my recent trades…

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN)

I first entered and alerted my AMZN trade on May 20:

My plan was clear: start small, and add to the position if it dips. 

Sure enough, AMZN took a big dip intraday, and I added to the position:

I kept adding. Like I said, I had extreme confidence in AMZN making a big move by mid-July.

Here’s why…

First, I was watching the three-day chart. If price action is the truth around smart money, you wait for bars to close to confirm that truth. 

When it’s a three-day chart, you need to wait three days to get confirmation of one bar. That’s a full trading week, plus another day to get confirmation of two bars. 

Second. It was a classic “run-up into a consolidation” pattern. Dow theory would suggest that it would continue in the direction from which it came after that consolidation.

But when you’re looking at 3 days for one bar of that consolidation, that can take a while. 

Third, I use the Keltner channels and Bollinger bands (one going inside the other) to show when price and volatility are being squeezed. 

Sure enough, that was happening on the longer-term time frames. It takes a while for that to happen — MONTHS — so it will often take a while to release from that as well.

Finally, this setup gave me deja vu to one of the best trades from my past…

Back in 2022, an almost identical setup happened in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). I put the trade on, had to be very patient, and ended up profiting BIG on the position. 

So, with this recent AMZN trade, I knew I had to be patient again. 

But it turned out I had to hold this position for over a month before I was finally vindicated this week…

Final Results:

AMZN 7/19/24 $190 CALLS

Bought AMZN 7/19/24 $190 calls at $3.05 on 6/20 at 9:37am

AMZN sold at final scale of $10, on 6/26 at 10:50am

228% peak move*

AMZN 7/19/24 $195 CALLS

Bought AMZN 7/19/24 $195 calls at $2.70, on 6/26 at 10:31am

AMZN sold at latest scale of $6.15 on 6/27 at 2:06pm

128% peak move*

AMZN 

Bought AMZN 7/19/24 $200 calls at $2.40 on 5/20 at 6:36am

AMZN sold final scale at $4.80 on 6/27

66% peak move*

Rivian Inc. (NASDAQ: RIVN)

On June 3, I started seeing huge ‘smart money’ sweeps coming through on RIVN…

Rivian Inc. (NASDAQ: RIVN)

On June 3, I started seeing huge ‘smart money’ sweeps coming through on RIVN…

It was becoming clear the ‘smart money’ knew something we didn’t, so I bought the calls and alerted them to Spyder Members…

I held them because the ‘smart money’ wasn’t leaving…

Sure enough, on Wednesday, June 26, this happened:

Meanwhile, the 7/19/2024 $12 calls surged as much as 490% intraday…*

Had you bought these calls when I alerted them at $0.70 and sold near the peak at $5.00 … you could’ve profited a staggering 614%.

But just like farming, this would’ve taken patience. 

You need to have the mental strength to hold contracts through sideways (or even slightly downward) price action.

As long as the chart hasn’t broken down or “done anything wrong,” don’t get shaken out of your initial thesis.

This RIVN trade is a picture-perfect illustration of this concept in action.

2 More Recent Winners

Dell Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL)

Bought DELL 7/19/2024 $155 calls at $5.25 on June 18, 2024 9:39 AM

• Scale #1 at $6.50 on June 18, 2024 10:05 AM
• Scale #2 at $8.00 on June 18, 2024 10:32 AM
• Scale #3 at $10.50 on June 20, 2024 9:31 AM
• Scale #4 at $12.50 on June 20, 2024 9:41 AM

138%+ on DELL in 3 days*

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL)

Bought GOOGL 6/28/24 $182.50 calls at $1.05 on June 24, 2024 at 10:04 AM

• Scale #1 at $1.31 on June 25, 2024 10:25 AM
• Scale #2 at $1.57 on June 25, 2024 11:37 AM
• Scale #3 at $1.80 on June 25, 2024 14:11 PM
• Scale #4 at $2.10 on June 25, 2024 3:40 PM
• Scale #5 at $2.62 on June 25, 2024 4:00 PM

150%+ on GOOGL in 2 days*

Look, I don’t post these wins to brag…

I share them to show you the undeniable power of skilled options trading, ‘smart money’ sweeps, and most of all, patience.

Trading isn’t easy, but it’s also not rocket science … especially if you have the right tools.

I’m not a math genius or a trading whiz…

I’m a normal guy who works his butt off, stays patient and disciplined, and knows when to pull the trigger.

Start focusing on these aspects of your performance and I promise you’ll be a better trader for it. 

Now, before we go, let’s look at:

💰The Biggest Smart-Money Bets of the Day💰

• $6.5 million bearish bet on ACCD 12/20/2024 $10 puts @ $6.20 avg. (seen on 6/28)

• $2.83 million bullish bet on AAPL 11/15/2024 $235 calls @ $5.67 avg. (seen on 6/28)

• $2.80 million bullish bet on NVDA 07/19/2024 $131 calls @ $3.95 avg. (seen on 6/28)

Happy trading,

Ben Sturgill

P.S. Complex Wall Street algos are wreaking havoc in the markets, making it almost impossible for regular folks to compete…

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Wall Street legend Jeff Zananiri recently discovered a unique error that presents itself daily because of how quickly transactions are taking place within the red-hot options market.

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