How Long to Stay In a Trade: May 2026 Jarvis Scorecard

Trading exits feel like something that should be so easy. But anyone who’s traded for even one week knows better. It’s easy to exit in a panic, easy to overstay, and challenging to pinpoint the right profit to target.

For options traders, duration is further complicated by trade decay (Theta), which causes the security to lose value, even at standing stock price, as the expiration approaches. Since we train on options, we’ll showcase this theme with some of the big trades from this month.

Trade examples are hypothetical and applied retroactively to demonstrate the Jarvis strategy. Trades were not executed in a live account. Results do not account for liquidity, slippage, or fees.

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TRADE 1

Day Trade Options | Timeframe: 1M QQQ Put | May 4 | 11:13 am – 12:20 pm P674 $1.08 → $3.24 | 200% profit

This trade quickly finds a strong run, which always makes it feel easier to ride through the chop. Following the Jarvis strategy by the book, that’s exactly what we do here. There’s one more big extension after 12pm to justify staying, and we exit at 12:20 when the red cloud breaks, at exactly 200% profit.

An alternate exit strategy worked well for some of our traders on stream, and would be considered a more advanced trading exit. Once the trade finally retracts at 11:22, it’s reasonable to take profit. We’ve seen two huge extensions, which could easily be the real opportunity.

Doing this could be closer to 185% profit, but it also closes our position almost an hour earlier. By the time the trade has run that long, decay is eating the trade as fast as price action grows it. Less anxiety for almost identical results.

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TRADE 2

Day Trade Options | Timeframe: 1M QQQ Call | May 8 | 9:32 am – 10:29:30 am C703 $1.11 → $3.76 | 238% profit

This one is pretty straightforward. Taking a trade in the second 1m candle of the day can be tricky, though. One thing we’re looking for to confirm these kinds of opportunities is to also view the 15m chart before we jump into something this early. When 15m is already green, and we get a LONG tag above VWAP, it’s an additional confirmation. This trade worked out beautifully.

This trade may make it feel like you miss way more as it continues upward, but it’s important to follow the Jarvis cloud exits. Greed makes us say, “But it kept going up.” Yet running that risk means we could ride through a big retraction and get hit with trade decay, which quickly eats away at our profit ratio. We followed the tag-to-cloud strategy, and it worked. We take the win.

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TRADE 3

Day Trade Options | Timeframe: 1M SPY Call | May 12 | 1:07 pm – 3:21 pm C736 $1.07 → $2.50 | 133% profit

This is an unusual trade for us to take because we almost never take a LONG tag moving towards VWAP. But it’s also unusual that this is our first LONG of the day, after noon, after a major selloff. That can lead to trades just like this.

Consider this an advanced trade where the risk of stretching the typical Jarvis VWAP strategy may not be for everyone.

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The Lesson: Elongate Time, Reduce Risk

The trades shown here are same-day expiration options. The reward multiplies faster, but the risk is high. One thing we are testing on JarvisLIVE stream is week-long expirations, like a Friday expiration for a Monday trading session.

Doing this will cause slower movement on the instrument, reducing the rate of loss and limiting the opportunity for profit scaling. It’s up to each individual to decide what risk they can tolerate, but the first step in every strategy is: don’t lose money. So if you want a more conservative approach to options, consider ditching the 0DTE and elongating timeframes to mitigate risk.

See you out there.

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Thanks for trading with Jarvis, and helping create the greatest Discord trading community on the internet. We’ll see you out there.

It’s a great day to trade.

Jarvis

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Risk Disclosure

Trading stocks, options, futures, and cryptocurrencies involves substantial risk and is not suitable for every investor. An investor could potentially lose all or more than the initial investment. Risk capital is money that can be lost without jeopardizing one’s financial security or lifestyle. Only risk capital should be used for trading. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.

CFTC Rule 4.41

Simulated performance results have inherent limitations. Unlike an actual performance record, simulated results do not represent actual trading. Since trades have not been executed, results may have under- or over-compensated for the impact of certain market factors, such as a lack of liquidity. Simulated trading programs are generally designed with the benefit of hindsight. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profits or losses similar to those shown.

Disclaimer

The information and trading signals provided by KTS Trading, LLC are for educational and informational purposes only and do not constitute investment advice or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security. We do not execute trades, manage accounts, or guarantee results. All trading decisions are made solely by you at your own risk. You should consult with a licensed financial advisor before making any investment decisions. KTS Trading, LLC is registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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