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Surviving The Market Stampede

Portfolio Armor's Photo
by Portfolio Armor
Friday, Jun 05, 2026 - 22:16

A relaxed bull shielded from stampeded bears.

Surviving The Market Stampede

As Zero Hedge reported, today was a stampede.

The Nasdaq had its worst day and worst week since April 2025. The semiconductors got crushed. Momentum stocks, retail favorites, and crowded AI-capex winners were hit hard. Treasury yields spiked after a hotter-than-expected jobs report, the dollar ripped, gold and silver were hammered, and crypto sold off too. It was one of those days when fear dominated the tape.

It was a day to see whether your process could survive the stampede.

Adding Exposure Into The Shakeout

On Friday morning, we sent out a new trade alert: “AI Power, Physical AI, And FDA Optionality”.

The point was that we were still finding individual names where the themes, technical setups, and option structures lined up. In that alert, we added bullish options exposure to AI power, silicon photonics, physical AI / autonomous-flight software—that "microcap unicorn" you read about on Zero Hedge later, Merlin (MRLN -5.12%↓)—semiconductor equipment, and biotech optionality. We also added a new trade on uniQure (QURE -4.02%↓), which we had discussed in Thursday’s alert in connection with ClearPoint Neuro (CLPT -7.20%↓). 

The trades were structured to use high implied volatility to our advantage. In most cases, we were buying upside calls while selling other options to help finance them, with defined downside via put spreads. That matters on days like this. A red day can hurt, but it does not automatically force us out of positions when the trades have defined risk and enough time to work.

We weren’t trying to call the exact intraday low.

We were trying to add asymmetric exposure where the price was right.

Fading Fear, Again

The useful symmetry is that a few of Friday’s profitable exits came from another fear-heavy period.

Back on March 25th, we published a trade alert titled “Fading Fear". 

War-related headlines and market anxiety were elevated then too. Instead of walking away, we looked for bullish exposure with defined risk.

Two of Friday’s exits came from that March 25th alert.

  • Short call on Cameco (CCJ -6.98%↓). Sold-to-open at $5.00 as part of a 4-leg hybrid combo on 3/25/2026; bought-to-close at $0.20 on 6/5/2026. Profit: 96%. Signal: PA Top Names.

  • 4-leg hybrid combo on iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (EWY -5.24%↓). Entered at a net debit of $4.84 on 3/25/2026; exited the July 17th, 2026 $115/$110 put spread at a net debit of $0.20 on 5/8/2026 and exited the October 16th, 2026 $150 / July 17th, 2026 $155 call calendar at a net credit of $13.60 on 6/5/2026. Profit: 177% (return on max risk: 87%). Signal: PA Top Names.

That is exactly what we want these structures to do.

Use fear when it gives us favorable entries. Define the downside. Harvest premium when possible. Then let the bullish side work if the underlying stock or ETF moves our way.

Nine Exits, Nine Winners

This week’s exits were clean: 9 options exits, 9 winners.

Not every week looks like that. Losing exits tend to cluster around expiration days, because winning exits often hit our pre-set GTC orders earlier (you can see examples of those in May's OpEx day Exits post).. But a week like this shows why the structure matters.

The goal is to avoid turning every red day into a forced liquidation.

Why Structure Matters

The point of these trades is to start with defined downside, use option premium where it is available, and give the bullish side enough time to work. That mattered today. Despite the shakeout, we were not forced out of any recent options trades, and we did not get assigned on any short puts.

Using Volatility To Our Advantage

Friday may not be the end of the volatility.

But volatility cuts both ways.

It can create losses for traders who are overleveraged or structurally exposed. It can also create entry points for traders using defined-risk structures and waiting for the right setup.

Friday gave us both sides of that equation. We took the opportunity to add bullish exposure in selected names, including QURE. And we harvested gains from trades we entered during a previous market stampede in late March.

That's the process.

Not ignoring fear.

Using it.

If you want a heads up when we place our next trades, you can subscribe to our trading Substack/occasional email list below.

 

And if you're scared, we're there for you too. 

Contributor posts published on Zero Hedge do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Zero Hedge, and are not selected, edited or screened by Zero Hedge editors.
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