🧠 Jon’s Weekly Recap: A Tough Start, A Steady ClimbMarkets ripped higher this week on news of a U.S.-China tariff “deal,” sending the S&P up 5.3% and the Nasdaq up 7%, their best week in over a month. DIS (+7.1%), QQQ (+6.9%), and IWM (+4.5%) all soared. But for my portfolios, the damage was done before the week even began.
Monday’s massive gap higher across all underlying's, combined with a sharp drop in implied volatility, resulted in a brutal 5.5% drop for the Composite, mostly in the opening minutes of the week. We were DOA before even thinking about our first trade.
But the rest of the week was a grind in the right direction: All four portfolios posted four straight daily gains after Monday I made 29 total trades, primarily rolling spreads and raising strikes to rebalance Wiley Wolf rallied back +10% from Monday’s low The Composite ultimately cut the week’s loss in half, closing down ~2.3%
Volatility continues to challenge the strategy, with tariff-driven price swings increasing dramatically, but IVs dropping, making it harder to extract premium value. My takeaway: widen strikes, keep exposure modest, and stay patient.
The strategy works best with contained moves — not gap-ups and collapsing IVs. We’re playing defense for now, and waiting for conditions to normalize. | 
