What Is a Credit Spread? Strategy Breakdown for Swing Traders

Watching Profits Melt Away? Partial Profit Taking is Key Risk Management

In this episode, we break down one of the most practical risk management tools for active traders and swing traders: partial profit taking and raising stop losses as a trade moves in your favor. Whether you trade stocks, options, or swing positions, learning how to scale out of winning trades can dramatically improve your overall profitability and reduce emotional stress. * What partial profit taking is and why scaling out in 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 can be a powerful risk management strategy for swing trading and position trading. * How taking profits along the way locks in gains and increases the probabilities that your overall trade closes profitably, even if the stock pulls back to or below your original entry. * How to move stop losses up as price advances, using tools like the 5-day moving average, recent swing lows, and logical technical levels to protect capital and prevent winning trades from turning into losers. * How to structure trades around earnings dates, including when to let the last portion of a position ride and when to step aside. This episode doesn’t stay theoretical—you’ll hear detailed walk-throughs of three recent swing trades and how partial profit taking affected the final results: * NUE (Nucor) * Entry at 228.50 and first profit target hit at 232.77 for a 2% gain on the first third. * Why taking 1/3 off reduced risk when the stock failed to show strong follow-through. * How this structure may lead to closing the final 2/3 near breakeven while still booking an overall gain on the trade. * ASX * Entry at 33.81, first 1/3 sold at 35.23 for about a 4.1% gain. * How raising the stop loss to 34.74, just under the 5-day moving average, protected profits on the remaining 2/3. * Why the trade still closed profitably overall, even though price fell back to the original entry and finished below it—showcasing how partial profit taking prevents profits from “melting away.” * NVDA (NVIDIA) * Entry at 213.56, with 1/3 taken off at 226.22 for roughly 5.6% and another 1/3 at 234.97 for about 9.2%. * How scaling out turned the last 1/3 into a “house money” position, managed into the May 20 earnings date with a stop around 216. * How this approach combines trend-following with disciplined risk management, allowing participation in upside while protecting downside. * Swing traders looking to smooth their equity curve and avoid giving back gains. * Newer traders learning how to set and adjust stop losses rather than trading without a plan. * Active investors who enter around technical setups but struggle with when to take profits and how much to sell. * Anyone tired of watching winning positions turn into breakeven trades—or worse, losers. * Partial profit taking is a core risk management and trade management technique, not just a way to “grab a quick win.” * Scaling out in thirds (1/3, 1/3, final 1/3) helps you: * Lock in early profits. * Reduce position size as uncertainty increases. * Keep a piece of the trade open in case of a continued trend. * Raising stops as price advances—especially under logical technical levels like the 5-day moving average—helps protect gains and keeps you from round-tripping trades. * You don’t need to call the exact top; you need a repeatable process that keeps more of your winners and controls your losses over many trades. If you’ve ever watched a green trade slip back to zero or red and thought, “I should have taken something,” this episode gives you a concrete, rules-based framework to prevent that from happening again. What part of your current exit strategy do you feel needs the most work: taking profits too late, not taking enough profits, or not moving your stop losses up as the trade moves in your favor? Interested in joining the DTA Community? Check out the community at https://www.patreon.com/cw/thedisciplinedtraderacademy [https://www.patreon.com/cw/thedisciplinedtraderacademy]

AI Energy Stocks: The Power Play Nobody's Talking About

Everyone's talking about AI chips — but the real infrastructure play might be in AI energy stocks. In this episode, we break down why artificial intelligence data centers require massive, uninterrupted power, and which energy companies are signing billion-dollar, long-term contracts with the biggest names in tech. From nuclear power deals with Meta to long-duration battery storage, we cover the six stocks quietly powering the AI revolution. What You'll Learn in This Episode * Why AI data centers demand 24/7 baseload power at gigawatt scale * How major tech companies like Meta and Google are bypassing the grid with direct energy contracts * Which nuclear, natural gas, renewable, and battery storage companies are best positioned * Why long-term 20-year energy agreements signal durable, locked-in revenue * How the "power trade" may be Phase 2 of the broader AI investment theme Connect & Subscribe * 🎙️ Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music * 💼 Join the Patreon for deep-dive written breakdowns and exclusive analysis - https://bit.ly/4aUsKlD [https://bit.ly/4aUsKlD]

From Trading Hobby to Financial Stability Engine

In this episode of the Disciplined Traders Academy Podcast, we walk through how to stop treating the stock market like a hobby and start using it as a financial stability engine. This is especially for listeners aged 30–60 with strong W2 income or self‑employed business income who are ready to turn trading skills into long‑term security instead of short‑term thrills. * Why your job or business income alone is not enough in a world of rising prices and long‑run inflation. * The difference between using the market as a casino versus using it as a tool for financial stability and freedom. * How to think in terms of real returns vs. inflation, and why cash sitting idle can lose purchasing power over time. What You’ll Learn In This Episode: * Why your job or business income alone is not enough in a world of rising prices and long‑run inflation. * The difference between using the market as a casino versus using it as a tool for financial stability and freedom. * How to think in terms of real returns vs. inflation, and why cash sitting idle can lose purchasing power over time. After you listen, take a few minutes to: 1. Write down your specific “why” for using the markets as a stability engine. 2. Decide on your trading account vs. long‑term account setup. 3. Set a profit‑flow rule that automatically moves part of your trading gains into long‑term assets each week. If you’re ready to design your own trading‑to‑stability system, like and subscribe to this podcast! There is also the DTA newsletter on Patreon - https://patreon.com/thedisciplinedtraderacademy?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink [https://patreon.com/thedisciplinedtraderacademy?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink]

The Vegetable Shock: PPI, Powell's Denial, and What Stagflation Means for Your Trades

This episode comes directly from the Wednesday update that members inside the DTA community receive. In this update we discuss: Inflation just got more aggressive, and today's PPI report proves it. We break down the February 2026 Producer Price Index data, why a 48.9% spike in vegetable prices is more than a blip, and what Jerome Powell's careful word choice is really telling us about the state of the economy. In this episode: * Why PPI came in at 0.7% — more than double expectations — and what's driving it. * The "perfect storm" of weather, tariffs, and labor shortages is hitting food prices. * Powell's "pincer move" explanation and why he's refusing to use the word stagflation. * The 10-year Treasury yield is hitting 4.25% and why. * Earnings breakdown: Micron's massive AI-driven beats the forecast. * SPY and QQQ key levels — why the market is bearish but still highly tradeable. * The two catalysts that could flip the inflation narrative. Subscribe to The Disciplined Traders Podcast for market breakdowns, trading education, and no-nonsense analysis. 📈 Join the DTA Community: https://disciplinedtradersacademy.podia.com/community/public [https://disciplinedtradersacademy.podia.com/community/public]

What Is a Credit Spread? Strategy Breakdown for Swing Traders

In this episode of The Disciplined Traders Podcast, host Brian Montes breaks down one of the most popular income-generating options strategies used by retail and professional traders alike — the credit spread. Whether you're new to options trading or looking to sharpen your edge, this episode gives you a tactical, no-fluff walkthrough of how credit spreads work, when to use them, and the real pros and cons you need to know before risking a single dollar.  What You'll Learn in This Episode * What a credit spread is and how it works mechanically * The difference between a bull put spread and a bear call spread * How to calculate max profit, max loss, and breakeven on a credit spread * What market conditions are best suited for the credit spread strategy * Why time decay (theta) is your best friend as a credit spread seller * The best underlying assets to trade credit spreads on (SPY, QQQ, IWM, and more) * An honest look at the pros and cons of trading credit spreads * Why the reward-to-risk ratio matters more than win rate alone * How to avoid the most common mistakes new options traders make with spreads Subscribe & Connect * Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all other podcast platforms. * Leave a Review — it helps more traders find the show. * Follow on Social: On X -> @dtamethod * Website: https://disciplinedtradersacademy.podia.com/ [https://disciplinedtradersacademy.podia.com/]