I don't have any time to chat. Take a look - what U think of that?

 

follow me on Twitter: @grapeswhiz

Hands out of the till

 

My stake, which is really quite small (and is subject to a multiplier); I intend to do something about that little by little as possible.

                                                                   $28.62 

My updated results: 

                                                                  $153.42

Let's review, since my last post was, lamentably, during the last calendar year (December, albeit.) I'll compare the quoted musings of then to the current half-year progress check-in: 

On December 5, 2025 I wrote: I hope 2026 will be a very interesting year.  Let's get this airplane off the ground!  I have made 232% profit on my investment, but I need to invest more and keep the traction going to get very good results.

My first post in this series, early in 2025, showed me at a 59% profit, and now I'm at 232%. 

Now that it's 2026 (halfway through, in fact), let's update:

As of July 8, 2026, I have made 450% profit on my investment.

My first post in this series, early in 2025, showed me at a 59% profit; a year later I was at 232%, and 1.5 years into this blog I now sit at 450% profit.

Part of the reason for this outsized number is that I have withdrawn funds as I've made them. 

 

Not dollar for dollar, but in a regular fashion that is not doing my account any favors. My stake has shrunk.  Obviously I have a money-making machine going, but how can a machine work at its best when fuel is continually withdrawn from the gas tank?  Amazingly, I've been able to grow the account, but I need to ADD to the account, not WITHDRAW from it, for best results. 

To review, some sampled points in time look like this:

May 19, 2025:  Stake $46.42  Account worth $73.77 (multiplied times a mystery number of digits beginning with a 1 and ending in 0.)

May 21, 2025: Stake $44.50  Account worth $87.05

June 6, 2025:  Stake $43.50  Account worth $90.55

June 10, 2025:  Stake $43.50  Account worth $91.62

June 26, 2025:  Stake $41.13  Account worth $94.23

August 7, 2025:  Stake $41.40  Account worth $105.30

August 18, 2025:  Stake $36.98  Account worth $115.44

September 8, 2025:  Stake 36.82  Account worth $122.56

December 5, 2025:  Stake 39.58  Account worth $131.55

December 27, 2025:  Stake $35.04  Account worth $136.53

and:  Drumroll... Now

July 8, 2026  Stake: $28.62  Account worth $153.42   

follow me on Twitter: @grapeswhiz 

Getting there!

It isn't the end of the year yet, but here it comes. Three more trading days and we can wrap it up.

Here's my snapshot (you'll have to expand it to see the deets.) 

 

My stake, which keeps getting smaller, and that's a crime I should do something about: (remember these are subject to a multiplier)

                                                                   $35.04 

My updated results: 

                                                                  $136.53

I'm shaking a few things up for 2026. Closing down one currency account, keeping another open, and striving to use the futures account more.  See ya back here in a few days when I have a true wrap to the year. Hope you're enjoying eating holiday leftovers like I'm doing at this very moment. 

follow me on Twitter: @grapeswhiz   

What happens when you put cheese and grapes together?

My stake, which keeps getting smaller, and that's a crime I should do something about: (remember these are subject to a multiplier)

                                                                   $39.58 

My updated results: 

                                                                  $131.55

I hope 2026 will be a very interesting year.  Let's get this airplane off the ground!  I have made 232% profit on my investment, but I need to invest more and keep the traction going to get very good results.

My first post in this series, early in 2025, showed me at a 59% profit, and now I'm at 232%. 

 

 

(this space intentionally left blank so you can think about that for a second) 

 

Compare me to the Dow, the Nazzer, and the good old Essenpee (not to mention laggard Russell.)

 

 

If anyone is straining their brain over math, this is just one account shown in the chart above; other accounts that are holding their own include futures and currency.

Till next time,

 

The Whizzing Grapes 

follow me on Twitter: @grapeswhiz   

Selling a few calls for pocket money

 Here's a rundown of my recent and current fishing ventures:

  

Two of the September 5th UVIX calls at the 13.50 strike sold at 0.496 on August 26th, bought to cover on  September 4th for 0.05.  This brings in $89.23.

Others open right now:  September 12th 14.50 and September 19th 12.50. 

This is just a little side project, because every extra dollar is a dollar I won't turn down.

follow me on Twitter: @grapeswhiz  

I'm still printing

 Checking in so that September does not leave everybody guessing.  

 

 

This small little stake is still working hard:  

                                                                   $36.82 

My new results: 

                                                                  $122.56

follow me on Twitter: @grapeswhiz  

Everyone should be following grapeswhiz on Twitter

Take a look, see if you like it (I'll tell you what - ***I*** like it!)

follow me on Twitter: @grapeswhiz   

Summer growing season

 

Updating before I forget to do it. My stake, which is getting too small: 

                                                                   $36.98 

My new results: 

                                                                  $115.44

At some point I'll boost the stake, but there are other things to do with the money right now.  May the results keep growing with careful tending to my dangerous and powerful garden.

follow me on Twitter: @grapeswhiz   

Progress report for May 2 - August 7, 2025

Haven't reported as often as I should, but here's the new rundown.  My stake: 

                                                                   $41.40 

My new results: 

                                                                  $105.30

Hoping to get even more traction soon.  Here's the snapshot (3 months) of me vs. the Dow, Naz, Russell, and Essenpee:

follow me on Twitter: @grapeswhiz  

Credit where it's due (What Wood Cathie Do)

I have to say, my days of making fun of Cathie Wood are over (for now.) May 2 until now, she is clocking in at an impressive 50% up, while I'm up only around 37%.

 I straggle behind:

 

 

Keep tabs on both of us and see how we finish the year out.

follow me on Twitter: @grapeswhiz  

Who's it going to be, Cathie Wood or me?

My days of making fun of Cathie Wood may be over. Cathie is truly owning it - look at her fund's performance over the same time period as my tracked account.  From the beginning of May until now, she's up nearly 40% while I'm lagging behind at only 30%.

 

Here's reason Miss Cathy can smile:
 

 

 Me, lagging behind, but making the indexes look like a joke:

Detail of the above:

 

That was YTD, and of course I've only been tracking since May (same exact period I tracked Cathie Wood's ARK Investment fund, May 2- now), but here's a closer took. Me vs. the good old Essenpee (and Naz, and Dow, and Russell)

 

 

follow me on Twitter: @grapeswhiz 

Lived through it, got to tell about it

Grapestrades doesn't always make the best trading decisions, or you could more specifically say, grapestrades doesn't always choose position sizes wisely and is not always lucky.

A nail-biter of a day (that's not accurate - I don't bite nails) - rather, a nauseating day concluded with me getting out, bullets dodged. I think I've taken away from it some lessons on what to do differently next time.

... Or have I learned?  We'll see!

Vertical lines (time) intersecting with the yellow (level) are my entry and exit. H-E-double-chopsticks is seen in between.

If you don't want to zoom in:  

In at 44,644.  Out at 44,641.  In between was 44,428.  In two and a half hours.

This represents my emotional state at the end of the day.  Is there a pill that can be taken to make experiences forgotten?  Just kidding.  You know I'm going to enjoy telling about this again and again.

My cost at the end of the day:  $18.00 including commission.

follow me on Twitter: @grapeswhiz 

What grapeswhiz has been up to

There's me in the purple (grapes-colored, naturally) line pulling in the 22.73% while the indices lag pathetically.  Who's the alpha in this pack?

 In case you don't want to zoom in, here's a relevant clip:

 

Also, I've only had May and June in which to accomplish this.  Why follow hot-air balloons on X who never stop talking but never prove anything, either?  Why chase them as if they know what's going on, when their chief talent may be verbosity? It's no detriment to me - I'll just be over here cultivating the alpha and sweeping in the harvest.

Today's report.  

My stake is going to hop around a bit due to funds being moved in and out of a futures account, but should stay stable within a range:

                                                                   $41.13 

My new status: 

                                                                  $94.23

follow me on Twitter: @grapeswhiz 

grapeswhiz, or trading whiz Cathie Wood - who's it going to be?

Today's report.  My stake unchanged:

                                                                   $43.50

My new results: 

                                                                  $91.62

But take a look at this chart.  Just enlarge it and scroll around.  If you don't want to do that, the tl/dz (too little, didn't zoom) is the indices claiming 0-7% increases over the last three months while I'm embarrassing them at nearly 19%, taking a clear lead.  

 

 

Looks like Cathie Wood is up that exact same amount for the same time period, which could cause things to go embarrassing for ME.

With my good friend Andrew Ross shorting the **** out of ARKK on the daily, let's see who comes out ahead in the end:  veteran fund manager Wood or the unknown and little-focused on fund of

  

follow me on X: @grapeswhiz

Count the muneez

Thought I wasn't coming back, right?  Well, get used to being wrong, if that's the belief you cling to. I'm here and I'm in gear, and this, to be short, is the report:

                                                                   $43.50

is my new stake, since I had to take out some muneez, and the current taking of the account's temperature is

                                                                  $90.55

Notional to some number that may be infinity (but isn't.)  

Not sure how Cathie Wood is doing in the same timeframe, but quick math will tell you I'm up over 100%. 108% if we're doing the computations.

 

 

follow me on X: @grapeswhiz

Check in on me, and check in on Cathie

Let's get up to date now that May is over.

Withdrawals from the account have now made my stake:

                                                                   $44.50

That's my investment in the account that, as of May 30th, was worth

                                                                  $87.05

There's a multiplier, if you haven't been following along.  But that gets you an idea of what I'm up to, and have been up to for the last month.

Hoping to get some traction soon. See my account performance slipping as compared to the last update:

 

It's dramatic embellishment to say my account performance is slipping.  Does the weather change from one day to the next?  Does any stock price go up in a straight line?  Any sagging in my account pales next to accounts that belong to the likes of:

Come on, Cathie - don't embarrass yourself.  Don't let me outdo you.  While I'm disappointed by my 11.45% during the last three months (and I didn't even get out of the gate until a month ago), you're clocking in at 3.3%.  I see you're set up to compete against me this time, for real.  Last time you wouldn't even get out of bed, but now you're coming out swinging.  But step it up or your junior competition is going to stomp on you and it won't be pretty!

 follow me on Twitter: @grapeswhiz

May chugs along

Note that my performance is +14.92% in half a month.  Let's see what happens if it "goes away in May" and "makes me a buffoon in June."

follow me on Twitter: @grapeswhiz

The first chapter of a story that's going to be crazy

Having moved everything from one brokerage to another (back to my favorite one - it feels like coming home after being away in prison), I'm going to track my progress in dollar increments, starting with a number and not specifying what the multiplier is. (Could be divided by ten - which means I'd only have $4, which is not the case - could be times ten, could be times 100, could be times 1,000, 10,000 or 100,000.  I'll only confirm that it's one of those.)

Starting figure as of  Wednesday, May 7 is 

                                                                  $46.42

That's my stake in the account that, as of May 7th, was worth

                                                                  $73.77

 

That makes my profit as of that day 58%, so I could have cashed out and retired to a local cardboard box beneath an overpass (or maybe bought a flashy or modest street-numbered place of residence, probably not a private island, to be honest) and concluded my trading career.  But of course, I'm not closing anything down - in fact, this is exactly the start of  History of My World Part 99,001, so stick around and see what happens next.  

I will get some other graphics, charts, and general musings together tomorrow, along with an update on what's happened between May 7th and today.  I wanted to get this to print before too much time got away from me. 

follow me on Twitter: @grapeswhiz

What a difference ten dollars makes

Last we checked in, UVXY was at 17.26 and today it hit 28.41.  Volatility index, indeed!  Volatile contracts on volatility, indeed!

Here you see me documented in history - look for the black dots and you'll see my little present to myself:  12 call contracts at 9 cents for this Friday at the 53 strike. Let the record show that at 12:54 PM, some pajama trader pressed the button for 12 contracts at 9 cents.

I paid about as much for that as you'd pay for a very decent lunch (for a few people at a nice place.) I don't need all that grease and sugar anyway, so I'm okay paying for this little decaying asset.

Let's see how this week shapes up. I'm sure there will be much to say about it. 

follow me on Twitter: @grapeswhiz

New low charted for UVXY intraday

 The lower we go, the happier we grow. That's our mantra in my corner of the internet.  Today, though it was fleeting and followed by a slap in the face, we enjoyed the sensual moment while it lasted. 17.26 was the print and it wasn't revisited again for the remainder of the day but we'll be happy with what we can get.

  follow me on Twitter: @grapeswhiz