Bubba opens this session in the aftermath of a soft PPI print that leaves markets tanked early before a predictable-looking rally sets in, with the NASDAQ climbing roughly 200 points off the day’s low. He’s candid about being wrong on crude, which has been rocketing higher against his short, a reminder that even an experienced day trader eats losing trades in real time on this show rather than only showcasing winners. The bulk of the episode is Bubba’s signature format: a fast, ticker-by-ticker scan across a full watchlist of major names, looking for anything trading outside its recent range worth acting on. He’s explicit that these aren’t opinion trades. “These are just probability plays. These are math plays,” he says at one point, and the process backs that up: name after name gets a quick look and a “nothing” when it’s still chopping inside its range, because as he puts it, until something breaks out of the range it’s watching, there’s genuinely nothing to trade. By the time he’s worked through the board, five short-premium trades get put on for the next day’s expiration: put spreads in Amazon (250/250/250) and a same-day put spread in SPY (758/757), call spreads in IBM (240/240/250) and Meta (660/662.50), and a put spread in Google (327.50/325). Every one of these is a defined-risk, defined-reward structure sold for a modest credit, entered with the same mechanical process regardless of which name it’s on. What comes through clearly in this episode is the discipline of doing nothing when there’s nothing to do. Bubba repeatedly resists the urge to force a trade in names sitting dead in the middle of their range (Amazon, Google, Meta before the setup appears, most of the mega-caps), noting that reaching for action in a tight, low-volatility tape is exactly how a day trader gives back an edge. He also flags a technical curiosity in the Q’s (QQQ) breaking down within an otherwise quiet tape, calling it interesting but not confirmed enough to act on yet. There’s a useful running theme about rate expectations, too. With the 10-year at 4.91% and PPI in line but still elevated, Bubba flags Friday’s CPI print as the number that will determine whether the Fed feels boxed into hiking. He notes almost in passing that he has a standing bet with someone that the 10-year hits 5% before the month is out, a small but concrete marker of how he’s framing the macro backdrop for his own trades. The episode closes with a bit of chart-reading philosophy that sums up his whole approach: “what is the chart telling you? What is the footprint of the market telling you?” is how he frames the entire session, whether he’s looking at copper (which he calls a clean blowoff top, flagging $650 as a buy zone on a pullback) or grains (breaking out as expected) or the handful of options spreads sold that day. It’s a workmanlike, repeatable process applied the same way regardless of what the headlines are doing. |
About Trading Live With Bubba
Trading Live with Bubba is a live-session show on the Tradier Hub YouTube channel hosted by veteran trader Todd “Bubba” Horwitz. Airing Tuesday and Thursday mornings, Bubba scans markets in real time, calls out credit spread and day trade setups, and teaches trading discipline through live narration.
