I had some time this afternoon to watch the markets and do a few paper-trades to further my skills. TNA was my pick today and I was trading as a contrarian, taking a couple longs in the face of a downtrend. The first practice trade was a long during the 1:40 - 2:00pm consolidation zone. It felt to me that the stock was gearing up for a move and long seemed right to me. I bought and immediately the stock moved up and away from my entry. That doesn't happen often to me and I must say that it feels really great! Short-lived though, as the stock bumped up against resistance at the 44.56 level, corresponding roughly to the doji at 10:55 am and the 12:20 pm minor-trend high. I sold the long on this stall, exiting within three cents of the top of the move. I sat on my hands while the next two candles dove to new LOD but looked to play the bounce as the price approached the HOD's from Friday. It was hard to say if they would hold as support but luckily, they did. While I missed the true bottom, I was close enough to have a small gain after a few minutes and then add another long to the position when it went positive. I tend to bail on trades rather quickly so in this case, that urge paid off as this little pop was just a rest spot before the stock resumed its drop about 15 mins later. Afterward, I did not consider any more trades but was content to watch and learn, as best as I could.
