Monthly: slump continues, 56-10, grade C

I count 56 winners, 10 losers for the March option cycle. I made money this month, but lagged the big stock market rally. SPY is back to flat for calendar 2016. I am down about -2.5% in my trading account. I am not happy with my results. I lagged the rally because I sold calls. I had some big losers in SPY and TSLA. CMG had another bad week to close the cycle.

Here are the year-to-date numbers for a few etfs, from best to worst:

GLD +18.1% gold

SLV +13.9% silver

TLT +7.0% U.S. 20-year Treasuries

EEM +5.7% Emerging market stocks

SPY +0.3% S&P 500 stocks

IWM -2.7% Russell 2000 stocks

I am right near the bottom of the barrel, right with the Russell 2000 (-2.7% vs. my -2.5%). If I were stubborn or panicky, some of the big losers would have been much worse. For the most part, I got out when my mental stop levels were breached.

Some might say bad luck, some might say bad trades. Whatever the case, the losses have been contained and I live to trade another day.