The Dow lost 89 points on increased volume. Not a good sign for the bulls. Advance/declines were negative. My order for OEX puts wasn't filled. Obviously I'm not happy. I still think we have more to go on the downside here and might buy some puts tomorrow. But the timing has been missed, again. I'm not sure how long this drop will last but I don't expect anything like last month. And I think there will be a buy play next week. Gold was little changed today. The XAU ran up early again and faded again. This has been the pattern for the last 3 days. ABX was weaker with the overall market and my options are dead. It will take a miracle to not lose everything, again. This trade should have been exited last week and I am an idiot to still be in it. The signs to leave were all there but as usual I was stubborn. That is not a good trait to have in a game where you must be flexible. However, you have to somehow go on in the face of frustration. I did put in a limit order to sell but it wasn't hit. The dollar didn't do much today. The overall market action was dictated by the Fed minutes which were interpreted as bearish. No doubt, I should have gotten the puts yesterday. Like I said I could still get some before the inflation report on Friday. We'll see. Mentally of course I'm a bit discouraged at this point but there is plenty of time before expiration for a decent trade. What I don't want to do, is do something stupid to make up for the ABX loss. Tough game.