August 19th

I had a chance to get into the markets for the last hour and decided to focus my attention on FAS, the high-powered 3x mover. I waited for a while and found a high-probability entry as the stock dropped deeply accompanied by a spike in volume. I got a reasonably good entry when I thought it was started back up (at one point early on, it was up about 15 cents) but it turns out, I was just a bit early and it then dropped a bit more. I stuck with it while it based for two candles then made a higher low and started to climb. As it hit the 3:29 candle on its way on trend, I sold it for a small gain and I still can't figure out why... This move went on to top out at $68.37, giving me a chance at 93 cents of gain. I took only 6 cents; a measly 6.5 % available. Had I stuck with this move, I wouldn't have been taking the short against this trend later on... a trade which lost $170. This has been an ongoing problem with my good entries over the many months I've been in training. I continue to search for a reliable exit signal. I just don't have any idea what my trigger to exit is...
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The second trade, a loss, was one which I shouldn't have entered to begin with, as mentioned above. However, I took this short entry after seeing that my regular signals of reversal had presented themselves: big price move and a spike in volume on the 3-minute chart. This was premature as I discovered... the original move was a strong one and continued up. I didn't worry too much about it and immediately went to the charts to figure out what was going on with this entry. I didn't stop out the position, instead I was focused on what I had missed. I closed it out just before 4:00pm. I am really not concerned about my gains and losses in the papertrade account anymore. I'll post them but I really am not going to paper-trade anymore as if it is with real money. As of late July, I know that I am not ready for live trading and am not going to approach my practice time as if it is an impending ramp-up to working in my real account. It is going to be more like last Feb, March, and April when I first started the blog; posting results but not worrying about the wins and losses and no thoughts of going live anytime soon.
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I finally received my new book from Amazon yesterday. "The Strategic Day Trader," by Robert Deel. A lot of info is not relevant to what I am doing so I am cruising through it. I think so far it is worth the $6 plus shipping that I paid. There is some relevant material that I am highlighting now regarding the use of 15 minute charts to stay in trend. Actually quite relevant, considering my first trade today that I bailed out of way too early.
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1 for 2, a 50% win rate. Loss of $110 in 1 hour of paper-trading.