If I had to trade just one setup for the rest of my career—only one—it would be this:
Buying simple long calls on stocks making fresh all-time highs.
That’s it.
Clean. Pure. Effective.
Sure, there would be stretches of time where this setup doesn’t work. I get stopped out, or the trade fizzles, or nothing on my watchlist is breaking out. That’s part of the game. But then—every so often—I catch a monster. The kind of move that can pay for weeks or even months of waiting.
That’s what makes it all worth it.
Here’s why I love stocks at all-time highs: There are no bagholders.
Nobody is underwater. Nobody’s stuck saying, “If it just gets back to my entry, I’ll sell.” Everyone holding the stock is making money. That’s bullish behavior fuel. When people are winning, they don’t typically hit the sell button—they let it ride.
And then there’s the other side: the shorts.
Every single person short a stock at all-time highs is losing. And the higher it goes, the worse it gets. That pain? It’s real. It forces action. Shorts start to cover, often in a panic, creating an additional wave of buying pressure.
So not only do you have buyers who want more—you have sellers who need to become buyers just to make the pain stop. That’s the kind of order flow I want to be aligned with.
And the best part?
Blue sky above.
No resistance. No supply overhead. No trapped traders waiting to get out at breakeven. Just clean, open air.
There’s nothing more beautiful than a stock in price discovery mode. It’s pure market behavior. It’s greed and fear pulling in the same direction—up.
Now I’m curious…
What’s your favorite strategy or setup?
Is there one trade you could do for the rest of your life?
Something that just feels right when it appears?
I’d love to hear what gets you fired up.
Let’s trade notes.
Sean McLaughlin | Chief Options Strategist, All Star Charts
