SaltWaterBRC is a personal blog documenting my journey learning to trade options from absolute zero.
The Setup
I'm Brandon. I have a background in tech, not trading. I helped my friend Ed build go-maz.com — an options trading screener and analysis platform — using Claude AI and Cloudflare. Somewhere along the way, Ed started teaching me what all the data on the site actually means.
This blog is the result: a real-time journal of learning options trading, starting with $6,000 on Tastytrade, guided by Ed's rule-based framework on Go Maz.
One month in, the account has grown to ~$7,938 — a 32.4% return. Seven trades, seven wins. But more importantly, the system has evolved from manual screener checks into a fully automated pipeline.
The System Today
What started as "Ed teaches Brandon to read a screener" turned into a full trading ecosystem:
- A daily automated pipeline that scores the macro environment (VIX, yields, dollar, oil, gold, BTC) every morning at 9:45am
- An IV scanner that screens ~130 NASDAQ stocks for cheap options at 10:00am
- Sector rotation tracking via money flow analysis
- An 11-phase ecosystem pipeline that cross-references all data sources and generates trade hypothesis cards
- A 5-watchlist morning routine that reads the whole market in 30 seconds
- An earnings date gate hardcoded into every trade decision after a near-miss on NOK
All of it running on Cloudflare Workers and D1, built with Claude, deployed automatically.
The Stack
| Blog | Astro + Cloudflare Pages |
| Screener | Go Maz (go-maz.com) |
| Data Pipeline | Cloudflare Workers + D1 (automated daily) |
| Analysis | Go Maz Ecosystem (11-phase pipeline) |
| Broker | Tastytrade |
| AI Assistant | Claude (Anthropic) |
| Infrastructure | Cloudflare (DNS, Pages, Workers, Security) |
Track Record
As of April 25, 2026 — 7 trades, 7 wins (100%). Total realized: +$2,187. ROI on deployed capital: 27.0%. Account YTD: +32.4%.
Disclaimer
I am not a financial advisor. Nothing on this site constitutes financial advice. This is a personal educational journal. I'm a beginner — don't follow my trades. Always do your own research and consult a qualified professional before making investment decisions.