The Running Of The Bulltards

9/11/26 Recap

James Bulltard — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 15:26:11 GMT

The SPY put in an incredible headfake yesterday giving us our first close under the 50 day in over a month and following it up with a big gap up over the 8 and 21 ema after CPI this morning. Now it all comes down to what the fed does next week and rate hike odds are at highs now but it seems crazy to me that Trump’s handpicked fed chair would completely go against what Trump wants next week, so we shall see what comes of that. I personally think the fed has to hike to retain credibility, losing that would be worse than upsetting Trump but I don’t know if they have it in them to upset Donald right now. That close yesterday is the tough part of being a technical trader you would get completely stopped out if you respected things like a close below that 50 day which is why I just try to reduce leverage when I’m worried but I never go to all cash. Right now we’re still looking at a series of lower highs, that isn’t bullish, we need to see a move up to say 775 to invalidate this structure we’re in.

More concerning I’d say is the IWM as small caps usually lead momentum, it is stuck under the 100 day now and rejecting it so far today as you can see below. This has been in a downtrend since mid August. I would say today is a nice move, but these charts are still really mangled and not ready.

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Here are today’s large cap momentum scans, nothing too exciting. SWKS did see a big trade today that I will highlight below otherwise tankers,health insurance, and grocery stores.

My Open Book

Trades I Made Today

9/10/26 Recap

James Bulltard — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 15:26:18 GMT

The SPY is testing the 50 day today and may possibly close below it for the first time since late July. We have issues galore now starting with oil crossing over $100 today. Rates hitting highs after PPI today and rate hike odds increasing are not helping things. It’s a shame that politics are getting in the way of things because earnings are better than they’ve ever been. Bulls would like to see a close above this 50 day but we’ve been flat for so long that the 100 day is just a little over 1% lower so we have decent support in this range. Let’s see what CPI holds for us. We also have a big earnings this afternoon from Oracle that will trickle down to many other tech names. Again I still am in the camp Trump finds a way to sink oil and save markets before midterms but its hard to gamble on that thesis because the charts are telling you to be cautious. Just be careful is all

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Here are today’s large cap momentum scans from the database, you’ll notice no tech names here today and lots of energy and defensives. That lines up with the market possibly breaking down here.

My Open Book

1066 Days To A 1000% Return

James Bulltard — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 11:18:58 GMT

I finally did it, I documented the journey to a 1000% return I initially set out to accomplish and it took me 1066 market sessions. I set up my substack and wrote my first post regarding the June 8, 2022 market session. Since then, I’ve outpaced the market by 10x.

What was I trying to accomplish at the time? Honestly, ending my boredom, we were in a slowly recovering post covid world, I had moved home to spend time with my sick dad and I just missed the action of an active work environment. I had a decent following on twitter and someone suggested to me that I write more about my process on substack. I figured a few people would read it but I had no idea this would turn into what it is today which is the #4 finance publication by revenue. I still can’t believe so many of you trust a guy named James Bulltard on the internet but after 4.5 years, my work and my results speak for itself.

The one thing I’d say is most special about me is my transparency. During covid and the ensuing crash I saw so many furus on twitter just look shellshocked, nobody was really honest. One minute they’re long this stock, the next minute they miraculously sold it for a gain before it tanked. These guys really had no idea what they were doing and were just the byproduct of a trending market. That’s fine because markets are trending 90% of the time, lots of those people will succeed. The people who survive downturns know how to adjust their positioning to pockets of underlying strength and emerge stronger on the other side . In 2022 when this began I ended that year up nearly 40% by focusing on the Twitter acquisition as a pocket of a strength. This year, the Iran war threw off my book in March because of all the leverage I was using but I repositioned into what I thought would be the strongest name from all the flow, Intel, and it worked out phenomenally as I’m now up 55% YTD vs 13% for the market. Leverage cuts both ways and things can end very poorly like what happened with Leopold recently. I am not scared of it, I know that in the short term it can throw off your paper gains but in the long run the flow of money is never wrong, especially when it was as overwhelming as Intel’s was when it was $35-40 and I positioned myself for a few months out and what ended up being a phenomenal trade.

Am I the smartest guy alive? Not even close, you rarely see me writing a long thesis or giving you my opinion on a name long term. These are all trading instruments to me, I really don’t care about any of them. In the long run, most real stocks go up, it doesn’t take a genius to tell you to buy xyz stock. What is however difficult is deciding where to put your money, how to utilize leverage, and taking the risk required to outperform the market. People think I spend my entire day on this and I’ll be honest with you, my personal style is actually pretty laid back. I spend less than 2 hours a day looking at my book. I know the levels I want to sell puts at, I know the names I want to be in and I execute and wait. The hardest thing for a lot of you is the fact you want to do too much. You want to trade all day long, lots of these furus place countless trades scalping here and there. In trading, less is more. I know concentration builds wealth and when I see a big opportunity whether it was Twitter in 2022, Amazon in 2023, or Intel in 2026 I’m not scared to swing at it. The rest of the time I’m following the flow selling puts and covered calls and making money where I can. Simplify your lives, you don’t need to be at your screens 7 hours a day. The whole point of this platform is to give you the proper data so you can place trades at the right levels and not spend your day watching 1 minute candles.

Here was my starting balance when this began, just under $1.5M. Alot of you have similar balances and here we are 1,066 sessions later and I’ve withdrawn $3.3M to pay my taxes last year and I generated a total gain of $12,871,006.69 with everything right there in the open for everyone to see. This isn’t impossible. Do not listen to people who tell you that you cannot outperform the market, they’re lazy and ignorant. Let them index. Do not listen to people who tell you that you shouldn’t be using leverage, Warren Buffett himself was the king of leverage with how he utilized his insurance float. Me selling puts to add cushion to my book is how I utilize leverage. Without risk, you’re never achieving a great reward, that is just reality. You want to outperform the market materially? Yea, you’re going to have to take risk somewhere.

This has been an incredible journey and I’m glad I got to share it with so many of you.

I won’t be writing a recap today, I didn’t want to send too many posts out so here is today’s link to the database. I even added the live feed to it for you all, enjoy.

Link

9/8/26 Recap

James Bulltard — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 15:36:30 GMT

The SPY is back below the 8 ema and clinging onto the 21 ema. The chop we’ve been in for 4 months continues but you could say this is just one big bull flag forming. It just feels like we’re going to get some sort of bullish news soon regarding the end of the war or a pause at least that sends oil spiraling lower and pushes equities higher. Trump really needs to get these diesel prices down before midterms in less than 2 months. Oil continues marching higher today with crude almost touching 95 which put it at a near 20% gain in just the last 9 sessions. I’d say with where rates are at highs and with oil rising back near 100 in 2 weeks the market has been very resilient. Everyone wants to partake in the ai trade and you can feel it because oil and rates like this would have hit the market so hard in the past but people are trying to look past it and price in a probable resolution.

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Here are today’s large cap momentum scans

Here are today’s mid cap momentum scans

My Open Book

Trades I Made Today

9/4/26 Recap

James Bulltard — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 15:07:58 GMT

The SPY is forming an inside day today after a stronger than ideal NFP print this morning. We look good, we’re over all the key moving averages and in this nice bull flag at the moment. Now the debate will rage on whether the fed should hike or not. For the sake of their credibility, they should hike, but for the sake of not upsetting the President before midterms they shouldn’t. It’s going to be a showdown in a few weeks but the fed losing their credibility is an even scarier proposition because this whole market is built on faith and trust losing that would have serious ramifications. Everything now rests on CPI and we’ll see what they have in store for us there but we know right now diesel is hitting records and that certainly isn’t going to help with inflation numbers. So getting oil down is the big priority at this moment.

On a weekly chart we have just been riding the 8 week higher for months now, 2 closes below it but no real threats of the 21 week. Until that cracks, this is just a textbook uptrend.

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Here are the top large cap names from the momentum scanner, the rest of the large, mid, and small cap scans can be found in the database link below. We’re finally starting to see tech in here again with BE,MU,SPCX, and APH. It could be time tech names finally start to catch a bid.

My Open Book

Trades I Made Today

9/3/26 Recap

James Bulltard — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 15:40:07 GMT

The SPY is gapping back up over the 8 ema today, we had rumors from the Wall Street Journal overnight that Trump was privately looking for a way to end this war. Whether it is a rumor or not, you have to believe that near 5% rates and oil continuing to go up everyday at $92+ now is not a popular thing with the public heading into midterms. It wouldn’t shock me if we got some sort of announcement soon because this $90 level on oil has been where previous deals have been made. I’d like to see a move over the $775.30 highs from 5 sessions back to invalidate this series of lower highs we’ve been in. If we can do that, the market can head to new highs. The weakness today in AVGO is a little concerning, they has a monster guide up to $30 in 2028 EPS and the stock is down 6%, the stock is currently trading just over 10x those estimates so that shows you what the market thinks about these guides at this stage.

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Here are the top large cap momentum scans from the database, the rest of the small and mid cap scans can be found in the link below

My Open Book

Trades I Made Today

9/2/26 Recap

James Bulltard — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 15:54:33 GMT

The SPY is trying to reclaim the 21 ema but is rejecting the the 8 ema so far. This is a series of lower highs and not really bullish, we need to invalidate that soon with a move over the candle from 3 days back. Oil is over 90 now but the vix is still contained under 16. I don’t really like this action until oil cools down and as you will see below the top trending momentum charts are almost all energy and defensive names. That isn’t really the best news but this can all be reversed in no time with news of a deal with Iran regarding Hormuz and it normalizing.

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Here are today’s large cap momentum scans from the database, the rest of the small and mid cap scans can be found in the link below. What you will notice right away is all the energy and defensive names in here. This isn’t ideal, again as you know, when these names are breaking out the market is usually in for a tough time so let’s see what comes next.

My Open Book

Trades I Made Today

9/1/26 Recap

James Bulltard — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 15:52:02 GMT

The SPY gapped down below the 21 ema today for the first time in over a month. Nothing good happens below the 21 ema, typically if you’re focused on the short term you would sit in cash until we were back over the 21. Now our next support is that yellow line, the 50 day. Oil is up another $2 but the vix remains under 16 so things are still relatively calm. The market is going to struggle here until we can get a lid on oil and rates which keep ticking up by the day. Midterms are 2 months away and I suspect we will find a way to go into midterms at highs, but in the short term, this isn’t a good look on the overall market.

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Here are the top large cap momentum scans from the database, the rest of the small and mid cap scans can be found in the database link below.

My Open Book

I’m going to be more active in my trading now, I freed up a ton of cash after I took a loss on my big Amazon position yesterday afternoon when the FTC news came out, I’m sick of Amazon, it is the most exhausting stock. Every other day there is some bad headline followed by a false breakout and then a false breakdown. I put on alot of new positions yesterday and you’ll see them below. They’re all names following flow I’ve seen recently. I try to sell calls a little higher and make some money if I’m called away. I’m not trying to be too crazy here, I’m still very levered up to Intel, that is still the majority of my book. You can see all my new positions below, it was just time to move on from Amazon, I really did want to play the Anthropic ipo but this thing is a house of horrors.

As I go forward into next year and beyond, once this huge Intel trade is over in November, I’m going to be building more of a real book here with 20+ positions and actively trading it. This year was a special circumstance where I saw a chance to go all in on Intel in April and it worked out so I’ve been just sitting since waiting for it to hopefully reach max value in November. Those opportunities don’t come around often but going forward, you’re going to see more of me taking commons in the same direction as the option flow going forward. I don’t see the need to keep pressing things with short term calls anymore, there’s that saying that you only have to get rich once, and I think in the last 4 years here going from a little over $1m to $10m has me at the point where crazy short term risk is not warranted.

An interesting one from yesterday I bought myself was FRVO. I logged this in the database at 12:52 my time in the discord yesterday after the recap went out and you can see I bought shares 8 minutes later after reading the thesis in the database.

It was a weird block, 2000 calls on this name nobody ever buys calls on expiring in 3 weeks, it was a very small buy dollar wise. This is the sort of odd trade where you’ll see me grab shares and I bought 10,000 yesterday and added 2,000 more today but this morning they announced a huge deal with Google and the name is up 23% right now. These small under the radar trades in obscure names are the ones that interest me most because you have to really question who is playing calls in a name like this. Clearly whoever this was, had inside information a deal was getting announced today and they played with such a small number that they’ll never get in trouble for it. You lay up $5-10m on this and you’re going to jail and that’s why I have my parameters where they are to hopefully catch things like this.

Commons I Added Long: FRVO, EXE,META,NRG,WYNN,AGX,TTD,AS,EQPT

Short puts I added: TSLA

Database Link

Here is today’s link to the database, it will be up until the opening bell tomorrow.

8/31/26 Recap

James Bulltard — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 15:58:10 GMT

The SPY is sitting ontop of the 21 ema right now as we test the 21 ema again. Typically when you’ve had this many tests, this is our 6th in 8 sessions, eventually you lose that level and move lower. The good news here is the 50 day isn’t too far lower because we’ve consolidated for so long. While we are sitting nearly at all time highs, the market is now under 1% higher than the highs in May, we’ve done nothing in over 3 months. In that sort of tape, you get really chopped up if you play short term calls. You typically want to either remain on the premium selling side of things or completely step aside. This is just a tough market, the ai narrative flips from day to day, oil continues to catch a bid, and bond markets around the world keep sending warning signs that our market continues to brush off. The bigger problem is the best looking charts in this market are oil and oilfield services names. Usually when those catch a bid, the overall market struggles.

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Here are today’s large cap scans from the database, the small and mid cap scans can be found in the link below. Still seeing alot of energy and defensive names in these momentum scans, that isn’t ideal for the overall market.

My Open Book

Trades I Added Today

8/28/26 Recap

James Bulltard — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 15:36:05 GMT

The SPY is going for all time highs right now and if it can push past 779.37 it can make a sizable move. We haven’t really heard much about the Iran war recently, oil is at 83, the vix is 14, and we got past NVDA earnings with a strong print and Jackson Hole to this point has been nothing material. Right now unless Iran sparks up again, we’re in a spot where we can run for a little bit. It’s early in the day and alot can change but we need to make new highs and not form a lower high here.

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Here are today’s large cap scans and as always the rest of the small and mid cap scans can be found in the database link below.

My Open Book

8/27/26 Recap

James Bulltard — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 15:46:06 GMT

The SPY finally broke out of the range it was in for over a week after the big move on earnings from NVDA. This looks great but we have Jackson Hole and the fed tomorrow. That is going to be a huge event for the market and these things can go either way, 2022 for instance was a complete disaster. So don’t get too excited just yet, this is a breakout but it can easily be a headfake and we get a sharp move down tomorrow after Jackson Hole. For the moment the vix is under 14.50 so nothing is really signaling much fear into tomorrow.

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Here are today’s large cap momentum scans, the rest of the small and mid caps will be in the database link below. Interesting to finally see a megacap in here with MSFT. CSX is another name I’ve flagged alot of trades on recently, that is a railroad seeing some strength.

My Open Book

Trades I Made Today

8/26/26 Recap

James Bulltard — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 15:49:06 GMT

The SPY continues to just linger in this tight range sandwiched between the 8 and 21 ema. Today is the big day, after NVDA reports we should get some clarity on a direction finally. We know the numbers will be strong but it is all about the guide. They have room to raise the buybacks plenty and the market would love that. NVDA usually trades poorly on earnings but after being rangebound for a year now, Jensen may bring some surprises on the call. Other than that inflation numbers were not ideal this morning, the rate cut thesis seems less and less likely everytime we get a hot print but the President keeps pushing for it and unless his handpicked fed chair ends up doing what he wants it seems unlikely we’d see rate cuts this year based on data.

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Here are today’s large cap momentum scans. The rest of the small and mid caps can be found in the database link below.

My Open Book

8/25/26 Recap

James Bulltard — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 15:50:24 GMT

The SPY continues to sit in no man’s land working on its 6th session in a row closing between the 8 and 21 ema. Tomorrow is going to change things dramatically after the NVDA report and guide. Will we breakout or breakdown? Nobody can answer that right now but the impact of the NVDA report will be felt throughout the majority of tech names. Later this week we also have the Jackson Hole meeting and we will hear more from the fed on what their plans are. We’ve consolidated for a little while here and now the 50 day is just barely lower at nearly 753 so we have some support right beneath us if we breakdown this week.

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Here are today’s large cap momentum scans, the rest of the mid and small caps scans can be found in the database link below. Interestingly we still are not seeing any tech names coming up in these scans. Lots of boring names and defensives for the moment, says alot about the weakness/chop we’re seeing in tech.

My Open Book

8/24/26 Recap

James Bulltard — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 15:58:46 GMT

The SPY continues to struggle with a potential close under the 21 ema occurring today. We also appear close to an 8/21 bearish cross down in the next few sessions barring a very sharp move up which likely would come from NVDA earnings. That is pretty much the last hope this wednesday before we see what the Jackson Hole fed meeting brings on friday. This is ugly, 9 of the last 10 sessions have had a red candle but oil is down and the vix is still under 16. Today’s big move down in ai names was from Samsung getting his 9% last night. This whole ai trade is turning chaotic recently where every other day some name is down double digits and causing a selloff in those names. We’re in a small rough patch for the ai names that have led all year which is why most people are feeling alot of pain even though we’re not far off highs. I think ultimately these catch another bid into the biggest ipo of the ai era in Anthropic in the coming weeks even the space junk names if you remember had a huge run up that topped around 2 weeks before the SpaceX ipo. I think we will see something somewhat similar with these names as well as the hype starts to kick in soon.

If we zoom out a little the SPY is just coming into the 8 week right now. From the time we crossed over the 21 week(light blue) on the ceasefire news, the SPY has not broken below it. That level is just over 739 and rising right now, so if you’re a put seller I would target that level as my spot to get long the SPY with a tight stop on a close below.

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Here are today’s large cap momentum scans from the database, the rest of the small and mid cap scans are available in the link below.

My Open Book

Trades I Made Today

8/21/26 Recap

James Bulltard — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 15:54:10 GMT

The SPY is working on its 6th straight red candle and its potentially its 8th in 9 sessions. We are in a period of weakness right now and technically we’re in no man’s land sitting here between the 8 and 21 ema but I’m certain we will have more clarity next week after the NVDA report. That name is going to spillover to everything else so if Jensen can get people excited to be in semis again this market can make new highs heading into the big fed meeting at Jackson Hole next week.

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Here are today’s large cap momentum scans and the rest of the mid and small cap scans can be found in the database link below. What you’ll notice today is a ton of metal names are here. Copper is breaking out today so FCX makes sense but AU,FNV,NEM,WPM are all metals and that is where the momentum is right now.

My Open Book

Trades I Made Today

8/20/26 Recap

James Bulltard — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 15:55:40 GMT

The SPY continues its weakness under the 8 ema but still over the 21 ema. It’s tough because while it feels bad we’re 2% off all time highs and technically still in an uptrend but all these semi names that have been where everyone is the last few years are getting hit hard and it doesn’t look like there will be any relief unless NVDA really saves the day during their upcoming earnings. Other than that, Walmart got smashed today down 10% after warning about lower income consumers and that rippled through every other consumer name in the market. It’s never ideal when Walmart does that but then again Walmart was trading at a ridiculous multiple for a very long time so this move today is not crazy. Consumer weakness, higher rates today, higher oil, these are all very negative things for stocks and I still can’t believe the overall market is holding up as well as it has to this point. After NVDA earnings next week we really have no catalysts at all between then and the Anthropic ipo to keep the market bid if oil keeps rising and rates keep pressuring things.

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Here are today’s large cap momentum scans from the database, as always the other mid and small caps can be found in the database link below. Same story we’ve seen for a few days with defensives and energy dominating. You’re starting to see a few tech names here like TEAM and SNOW but those are outliers more than anything. I discussed this alot the last couple days here but the oil names being the top momentum scans everyday was warning about market weakness.

My Open Book

Trades I Made Today

8/19/26 Recap

James Bulltard — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 15:50:35 GMT

The SPY is reclaiming the 8 ema after losing it yesterday, but there is still alot of time left in the session so I wouldn’t make much of it now. Let’s see where this closes today. This morning we were deeply red following another overnight limit down circuit breaker on the KOSPI, their 10th this year, but then in the premarket we got news that Bessent was going to step in with yield curve control and the market loved it rallying hard before giving it all back and going deeply red and then recovering. Our markets are all over the place right now there is just alot happening here with Anthropic potentially spooking investors across the ai spectrum with their recent numbers and now oil is up another 2% today. As long as we’re over this 21 ema at 763 right now, we are fine, but we’re 1% away from losing it and that’s where the issues begin so just be vigilant and be ready to change your positioning should the market lose this uptrend.

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Here is today’s large cap scan of momentum and once again, it is all energy and defensives. That is not good for the tech bulls. These are typically not charts setting up nicely when tech is set to outperform. The rest of today’s mid and small cap scans are in the database below. Tech bulls really need oil names to cool off soon or they’re going to begin pressuring things alot more.

My Open Book

Trades I Made Today

8/18/26 Recap

James Bulltard — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 15:42:50 GMT

The SPY broke down below the 8 ema today losing that for the first time in nearly 3 weeks. Now we have the 21 ema just below and if we lose that we might have serious issues this time around. We have our 30 year rates at the highest they’ve been in 2 decades, the intervention in Japan we recently participated in did not work, and the situation in Iran is just getting worse by the day with the UAE defense ministry just posting minutes ago that Iran just shot rockets at them. If you sold everything and went to cash for a little while, you probably wouldn’t miss too much. We have had an incredible run and there are just too many question marks right here. I do think ultimately we find a way to prop this market up into midterms in November but the amount of issues unfolding all at once in a sane world would cause a sell off here. If we lose that 21 ema just over 760 now, I really do think it may be time to take alot off if you’ve had a great year.

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Here are today’s large cap scans, the rest of the small and mid cap scans can be found in the database along all the other moving average crossovers. Here we go again with the same theme we’ve been seeing for the last week, 5 of the top 8 are energy names: APA,VLO, CNQ, OVV, and PSX. That sector just looks ripe for a move now and that means the Iran situation would likely have caused a spike in oil prices which would have likely caused market weakness.

My Open Book

Trades I Made Today

8/17/26 Recap

James Bulltard — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 15:49:16 GMT

The SPY is just drifting along over the 8 ema in a nice uptrend. We got another extension today on the Iran situation and we have NVDA earnings coming up in 6 sessions which will be our next big catalyst. The only point of caution here would be the fact that oil looks great and continues to stay green. To this point Bessent has been able to keep oil in check miraculously but how long can he do it for without a deal and Hormuz closed for traffic, I don’t know. If oil were to catch a bid, the market would not be happy and the charts all say it is coming.

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Here are all the large caps that came up in my momentum scan, the rest of the scans are all available in the database below

My Open Book

No Recap On Friday

James Bulltard — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 06:32:14 GMT

Sorry for sending this out at 1:30 in the morning, but we had a unexpected death in the family tonight, my mother in law took a quick turn today and passed away after a long battle with dementia. We took a last minute flight out of town and just got in. My helper will be in tomorrow morning and he will be logging all the data so everything will be in th…