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Issue No. 19 • Tuesday June 16, 2026

THE TRADING ADDICT

by Maria Helmick

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» Story No. 1 of 2 · Market Alert

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SpaceX Options Arrive Today

SPCX trades around $192 as traders prepare for a potentially explosive options launch.

IPO Price

$135

Today’s Price

$192

SpaceX investors are about to receive a powerful new trading tool. Options on SpaceX, ticker SPCX, are expected to begin trading on Tuesday, June 16, only two trading days after the company’s historic market debut.

Cboe has said it expects to list the contracts Tuesday, subject to final industry and clearing checks. With the shares trading around $192 today, the stock is approximately 42% above its $135 IPO price.

What Traders Will Be Able to Do

The new options market will let traders speculate on further upside with calls, protect shares with puts, generate income with covered calls and use spreads to define risk.

Expect Expensive Options

Interest will probably be enormous, but that does not automatically make these good trades. Early contracts may have extremely high implied volatility, wide bid-and-ask spreads, limited expirations and rapidly changing prices. Market orders could produce terrible fills.

The First-Day Trap

A trader can correctly predict the direction of the stock and still lose money. A call buyer could watch SPCX rise but lose if the option was purchased at an inflated premium and implied volatility later collapses.

Selling premium may look attractive, but a stock capable of moving from $135 to roughly $192 this quickly can also reverse violently. Naked options could carry substantial risk.

Maria’s Take

SpaceX options will be exciting, but excitement is not an edge. I would not rush into the opening minutes. Let the chain populate, watch the spreads and see where implied volatility settles. Use limit orders only, trade small and consider defined-risk spreads rather than chasing expensive calls or selling naked options. Also watch your buying power carefully and make sure the amount of capital tied up is worth the risk you are taking.

The Bottom Line

SpaceX options are expected to begin trading Tuesday under ticker SPCX, although availability may vary by broker and the launch remains subject to final exchange and clearing checks. The best first-day trade may be the one disciplined enough to watch, learn and avoid chasing.

Educational only. Not financial advice.

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» Story No. 2 of 2 · Wall Street Lessons

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40 Years on Wall Street: What Actually Matters

The biggest lessons are not about finding the perfect stock. They are about surviving success, handling fear and staying honest with yourself.

Wall Street is never quiet. Someone is always predicting a crash, calling a bottom or explaining why this time is different.

After decades of market cycles, one lesson becomes clear: predictions are only part of the game.

The harder part is controlling yourself when the market moves against you — or when everything is going so well that you begin to believe you cannot lose.

“Humility at the highs. Confidence at the lows. Integrity always.”

Humility at the Highs

Winning feels good, but it can also make investors careless. When the market is rising and nearly every trade seems to work, confidence grows. Position sizes get larger, risk rules get weaker and patience disappears.

A trader who once waited for the right setup begins chasing. An investor who normally keeps cash available suddenly feels pressure to put every dollar to work.

The danger is not only the market. The danger is believing recent success proves you have mastered it.

Sometimes we make money because our analysis was right. Other times, we make money because the entire market was rising. Enjoy the gains, but do not allow success to change your discipline.

Confidence at the Lows

Falling markets create the opposite problem. When prices drop, investors begin questioning everything. A temporary loss feels permanent, and fear makes every headline sound worse.

Confidence at the lows does not mean blindly buying everything that falls. It means slowing down long enough to separate price damage from business damage.

Ask yourself:

Has the company changed? Have earnings weakened? Has the reason for owning it disappeared? Or is the stock simply falling because the entire market is under pressure?

A falling stock is not always a broken company, just as a rising stock is not always a good investment.

Prepared investors have choices. They can wait, hedge, adjust or selectively buy at better prices. Cash may feel boring during a rally, but during a correction it becomes freedom.

Bears Sound Smarter

Negative arguments often sound more intelligent because fear is easy to explain. There is always something to worry about: inflation, recession, war, debt, elections, interest rates, valuations or the Federal Reserve.

The bear case can sound convincing for years. But while investors are waiting for everything to feel safe, businesses continue growing, technology advances and markets adapt.

The goal is not to be blindly bullish. The goal is to respect danger without becoming paralyzed by it.

Integrity Always

Integrity in investing means telling yourself the truth. It means admitting when a trade is wrong and not turning a failed short-term trade into a long-term investment simply because you do not want to accept the loss.

It also means not moving the goalposts, changing the rules or inventing a new story to avoid making a hard decision.

Anyone can follow a plan when the trade is working. The real test comes when the position moves against you and your emotions start negotiating with your rules.

The Real Battle Is With Yourself

Investors spend years searching for better charts, strategies, indicators and forecasts. Those things matter, but even the best system can be ruined by poor behavior.

Fear makes us sell too late.
Greed makes us buy too high.
Overconfidence makes us trade too large.
Regret makes us chase what already happened.

The market does not only test what we know. It tests whether we can still use what we know when real money and real emotions are involved. Markets change constantly. Human nature does not.

Maria’s Take

The lesson is not about predicting every market move. It is about staying disciplined through the moves you never saw coming.

Be humble when you are winning. Stay confident when prices fall, but make sure the facts still support the investment. Most importantly, do not abandon your rules just because your emotions are getting louder.

You do not need to be right all the time. You need to stay in control long enough to keep playing.

Humility at the highs. Confidence at the lows. Integrity always.

Educational only. Not financial advice.

Math Makes Money

TRADES OF THE WEEK

0DTE SPX • $30K SCHWAB ACCOUNT

Week of June 15, 2026

Entry (ET)	Premium	Type	Wings	Stop
11:53 AM	$3.00	MEIC	50W	95%
12:00 PM	$2.25	MEIC	50W	95%
3:09 PM	$3.50	MEIC	50W	95%
3:30 PM	$3.00	MEIC	50W	95%
3:44 PM	$1.85	MEIC	50W	95%
3:44 PM	$3.00	MEIC	50W	95%

All trades 0dte SPX iron condors on the $30K Schwab account. MEIC = Multiple Entry Iron Condor. 50W = 50-wide wings. 95% = stop loss on short leg. No profit target — let trades expire.

Risk Warning

At the time of this writing, we plan on entering most of these trades, but they are part of a much greater and larger trading program and should be considered for educational and entertainment purposes only. Not financial advice of any kind.

Trading involves substantial risk and is not suitable for every investor. You can lose some or all of your money. Nothing here is financial advice or a recommendation to buy, sell, or copy any trade. Do not copy trades blindly. Do your own due diligence, understand the risk, and make decisions based on your own account, risk tolerance, and financial situation.