Every Monday, I hear from students who are down big on positions they should have closed on Friday.
Trump can send a single post on a Friday at 4:01 p.m. and completely destroy your Monday morning. He’s done it over and over.
And when the market is closed, you can’t react. You just sit there all weekend watching futures and hoping.
Look at what just happened this month. Last Friday, the Nasdaq was on a 13-day winning streak. Over the weekend, the Navy seized an Iranian vessel.
Monday, the major indexes gapped down, crude gapped up, and the risk-on streak snapped.
How do you protect yourself from this insanely unpredictable weekend volatility?
There’s only one way…
What ‘Going Flat’ Means (And Why I Do It)
Going flat means you don’t hold short-term speculative trades over the weekend.
By the close on Friday, you’ve sold the contracts you bought during the week. Clean book. No exposure.
You might be thinking, “Why would I exit on Friday if the setup might run on Monday?”
Because the setup from Friday afternoon is not the same setup as Monday morning. Too much can happen between the closing bell and the open.
During the week, an overnight hold means you’re exposed for 14.5 hours. A weekend hold stretches that to 65-plus hours. That’s four and a half times the window for a geopolitical, macro, or political headline to blow up your thesis. Or one Truth Social post.
WARNING: If you’re holding a macro-sensitive trade over a weekend in 2026, you’re playing Russian Roulette with your account.
Protect Yourself from Weekend News
Weekend news moves markets. It always has. But I think we can all agree that Trump exacerbates these moves.
The market is closed. The world is not. And the president posts on weekends.
Plus, there have been a lot of suspiciously well-timed options trades lately, especially Friday afternoons and Monday mornings.
These blocks always seem perfectly positioned for the coming Trump news. I’m not accusing anyone of anything, but it feels like Barron Trump is the greatest options trader in the world right now.
If you’re position-free over the weekend … you get to read the news, see the gap, and decide whether to buy weakness or sell strength.
You’re responding to the conditions instead of defending a position.
What If You Miss Out?
Almost every objection to Flat Fridays comes from FOMO.
Don’t try to catch every move. Just worry about making consistent, informed decisions that protect your capital (while giving you solid opportunities for gains).
Flat Fridays do exactly that.
Consider the opposite scenario. You hold a bullish position through the weekend of April 17. You wake up on Monday to a nearly 4% oil gap, a Nasdaq reversal, and your calls are down 50% before you can log in.
Now you’re down big, mentally tapped out, and you have to make a recovery decision in the first ten minutes of a Monday where every headline is working against you.
You don’t want that.
Flat Fridays are the recipe to protect your profits and your mindset.
I take my kids to the park on Saturdays. I watch a ball game on Sunday. I don’t sit there waiting for a 9 p.m. Truth Social post to decide whether I’m up or down $10,000.
Go flat. Enjoy your weekend with zero stress.
Then be ready for Monday’s open.
Happy trading,
Jeff Zananiri
P.S. There’s a morning market anomaly that creates a predictable window every single morning, and I’ve spent years automating how to trade it.
I’m going live today at 1 p.m. EST to show you how to nail these moves yourself.
Oh, and I’m also walking through a major AI upgrade to my system I’ve never discussed publicly before.
*Past performance does not indicate future results
