As I mentioned in yesterday's Options Jam Session, the stock market is currently sending mixed signals and it has me open to the idea of adding some short exposure to my portfolio to balance the risks to my open long positions.

So I'm on the hunt for weak stocks that are showing signs of losing significant support levels.

Today's trade fits the bill.

If there's one thing Brian Lund learned about himself over the past 30 years in the markets, he must write. Without a doubt, without even thinking about it, he knows that to express himself and to complete his thoughts into productive trading, he needs to sit down and start writing.

And this makes sense. We hear this a lot from our smart friends.

Barry Ritholtz once wrote: "I write to find out what I'm thinking."

In this conversation with Brian, we get into the importance of sleep hygiene and how it's so important for us to be at our best. Not just in trading, but in living.

We dig into challenges Brian has overcome along the way, including an ADHD diagnosis, and morphing from an always-on entrepreneur who constants has problems to solve to a trader who must sit on his hands and wait for things to happen.

We also cover his hacks like therapy, meditation, and a CPAP machine to help him maintain his sharpness.

Like all of us, Brian has suffered from the market honing in on his biggest weaknesses. He's got the battle scars to prove it. But learning from these mistakes and fighting the urge to revenge trade have been evolutions that...

If the way Nvidia is trading is an indication that the semiconductors run is far from over, then we have to believe some additional names down the cap scale will attempt to play catchup.

One of those names is Advanced Micro Devices.

Check out the ground that $AMD has to cover to get back to all-time highs:

My portfolio could benefit from some directional diversification right now. As such, I had my eye on a bearish bet this morning to help balance out my mostly directionally long exposure.

And one name that I and our analysts discussed in our meeting yesterday appears to be hanging on the precipice of a potentially large fall. The company will be announcing earnings on July 4th (who does that?) and I think that might be the final nail in the coffin to send this stock lower (if not sooner).

If there is one thing that stands out from any conversation with Brian Shannon about the trading process, it is this:

For discretionary traders, there are no rules. Instead, there are "guidelines."

And because Brian is human, he occasionally breaks his guidelines and suffers the same consequences as anyone else. Everyone gets what they deserve. Even a trader of 30+ years like Brian Shannon.

If a trader buys the dip or sells the rip without a plan to control her risk then she, too, will get what she deserves. Eventually. The market is always on the hunt for our weaknesses.

This is one of the things I love about my friend Brian. He doesn't tolerate nonsense. He tells it like it is. Tough love. It's what a trader needs.

And he's adamant about tuning out the noise and focusing on his strengths. For instance, he no longer pays any attention to financial TV. "It makes me emotional. TV is just theatrics. If it doesn't help me make money, I completely ignore it." He knows what he's good at, says no to everything else, and makes the best use of his time by focusing his energies on profitable pursuits.

Shouldn't we all live and...

Last week in Sonoma, we uncovered a bunch of potential trades that are setting up in a variety of sectors. But one of them is sending a glaring signal that it is ready for us to get involved right now, so let's not waste any time.

Check out this chart of CNX Resources Corp $CNX:

Going to skip the preamble as I'm currently at Portfolio Accelerator.

We've got an extremely timely idea that we just all discussed at a round table.

Specifically, the Bank of...

My analysts are bullish on Bank of America $BAC and for good reason:

Bank of America is on the verge of breaking out of a bearish-to-bullish reversal pattern.

As you can see in the lower pane, BAC recently resolved higher from a similar basing formation versus the broader market.

We like it long only if it is above 38.50 with a 2-4 months target of 50.

Options premiums are cheap, so lets keep it simple.

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