My broker closed my trade for me. Again.

Quick disclosure: this is a personal trading journal, not investment advice. I trade at tastytrade with my own money. No affiliate links here, no broker or prop firm deals. Read the full disclaimer.

The July version of this story: One micro contract and three emails from my broker →

Trade Summary

One month after my broker sent me three emails in three days, they sent me three more. Different trade, same ending. They closed my position for me.

Through Friday the 28th, the account was up $2,852.13 on the month. Up 41.1%, no deposits, just trades.

The insurance actually worked first

August started with a hedge. I knew I still wanted to be long with the open contract, but if the market went down in the meantime, I'd try to make some money on the way.

I guess you could say that's protection.

Tuesday the 4th, 12:15 PM: one /MNQ 29350 put, expiring August 21, for 435.00. Fifty-three minutes later I sold it back for 388.00. Minus $96.52 with fees.

I bought insurance and returned it the same hour.

At the close I tried again, cheaper. Two 29300 puts expiring that Friday, $100 each.

The market dropped over the next two days and I sold them for 87.00 and 200.00. Plus $168.96.

The insurance paid.

I closed my best trade and was short 35 seconds later

Back up. The morning after they closed my July trade, I got back in. Long one /MNQ at 28,226.50, on July 31.

By August 5 it was up big.

At 10:40 AM I sold at 29,833.25. Plus 1,606.75 points. Plus $3,213.50.

In my head: damn, I won that trade finally. My strategy is working. Let me finally close this out.

Thirty-five seconds later I was short at 29,838.75. Thinking it was going down now.

It kept going up. I covered at 29,868.25. Minus $59.00.

And I caught myself: what am I doing here? Didn't I say stop daytrading this and just keep holding long?

So I did. Long at 29,872.00, one more wobble out at 29,800.00 for minus $144.00, and at 12:48 PM I bought in at 29,787.25 and held.

Let it run and see what happens. That's what I wanted to do anyway, right?

That flip-flopping cost me $208.64 with commissions and fees.

Long again, 1,560.75 points above the entry I'd closed two hours earlier.

The 0DTE gamble that doubled

August 21, a Friday. 10:47 AM. I bought seven 0DTE calls (zero days to expiration, they die at the close) on /MNQ, 29370 strike, at 35.75 each. $509.32 with fees.

I don't usually do 0DTEs. I wanted to gamble.

It worked. At 11:37 AM five of them sold at 71.50, an exact double.

That wasn't me watching the tape. It was a limit order I'd placed just in case it got there, set to sell at 100% profit. It did.

At 11:53 AM I sold one more at 130.00.

Plus $458.07, in 66 minutes.

I finally closed for a nice profit for one day. And the seventh call? I'll leave one as a runner.

The runner expired in the money

I couldn't close it in the afternoon. It expired in the money, and at the 5:00 PM settlement the exercise went through.

The call stopped being a call and became one long /MNQ at 29,370.00.

Which made me long two contracts. On a $9,608.56 account, two contracts is $9,262.00 of margin requirement. My buying power read minus $4,739.76.

Way too high. Way too much for my small account.

I just hoped it would keep going up.

But of course it didn't.

The futures maintenance call, round two

Saturday morning, 7:10 AM, from tradedesk@tastytrade.com:

Your account ending in 425 has been issued a Futures Maintenance (FM) call for $2322.83 from trade date 2026-08-21 due by the end of the day on 2026-08-24.

The email lists the ways to meet a call. Deposit cash. Deposit securities. Market appreciation. Close positions.

I picked market appreciation. The only one on the list that isn't a decision.

Because I was frozen again and didn't want to decide. I just hoped the market would go up and cover it.

Monday the market went the other way. Minus $1,128.00 on the day. Net liq $8,465.85, buying power minus $6,967.57.

Tuesday, 7:12 AM:

Your account ending in 425 has a past due Futures Maintenance (FM) call for 3450.83 from trade date 2026-08-21. If you do not take market action that meets the call by 9am CST, tastytrade may need to liquidate positions on your behalf. Additionally, if our risk team determines that your position(s) pose excessive risk, they may liquidate your position(s) at any time.

One minute later, 7:13 AM, a third email. A Required Maintenance call, for $35.65.

Three emails in July. Three more in August.

Why the hell do I never learn? Why do I keep making these same mistakes??

They sold it for me. Again.

At 9:45 AM Tuesday, tastytrade sold one /MNQ at 29,366.00.

I wasn't watching. I found out after. I was expecting it to happen.

Look at the clock, though. Their deadline was 9am CST. The fill printed at 9:45:15 my time, which is 8:45 in Chicago.

They sold it before their own deadline. The Tuesday email says they can: at any time.

First in, first out: the contract they sold was the one from August 5, the 29,787.25 re-entry. Minus $842.50.

The runner they exercised me into? That one survived the liquidation.

And writing this up, I went back and looked at July properly. That 9:59 AM exit in the FOMC post, the +$88.00 one? tastytrade placed that order too.

Two margin calls in two months, two liquidations, zero exits placed by me.

What's still open

The exercised /MNQ is still on, from 29,370.00. It marked 29,491.75 at Friday's settle, up $243.50.

Ten $HTZ calls for September 11. I paid $632.40 for twenty, sold ten back for $318.76, and the last ten ride.

And underneath all of it, the $50-a-week TQQQ autobuy kept firing. Four times in August. It doesn't read my emails.

August, through the 28th: plus $2,852.13. Up 41.1%.

A past-due margin call and a +41.1% month, in the same four weeks. I don't get to keep one and ignore the other.

EOD: +$2,852.13 | +41.1%

Catch you next week.

I trade futures and options at tastytrade with my own money. I earn nothing if you open an account there. The link is just so you know where these fills come from.

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