Most traders blame position sizing when a swing trade blows up. In my experience running options alerts, the real killer is almost always theta mismanagement — holding a short-dated contract through a slow, choppy consolidation and watching time decay eat the position alive while you wait for a move that eventually comes... a week too late.

A few rules that fixed this for me:

• Never buy less than 3-4 weeks of extra time beyond your expected move window. If you think the move takes 5 trading days, buy at least 20-25 days of premium as a buffer.

• If the underlying is flat for more than 40% of your holding window, cut it. You were wrong about timing, not direction.

• Track theta as a dollar amount, not a percentage. Watching "you're losing $18/day" hits different than "-0.6% theta."

This is the exact framework I use for the entries I send out. Happy to break down more of it if people want specifics on strike/expiry selection.