I didn't have a lot of time to look at the markets today; maybe the last hour and 45 minutes.
TNA wasn't moving too much but because I am trading for practice and not for $, I decided to stick with it and try to pick up some experience. I got a bad read and went short. It went in my favor about eleven cents and reversed. I should have stuck to my quicker exits that I typically operate with. However, I held and it reversed against me. So sure was I that my read of a fade into the afternoon was right that I held anticipating the downturn. Well, it didn't come and I didn't stop it out. I bought a better average price at what felt like the top then waited. The turn did come shortly afterward and within 7 cents of my second short entry. After the turn, I looked for a chance and exited when it felt like a short-term bottom was in. Good read of momo there, because price did climb for 20 minutes from that point before topping out and dropping into the close.
What I take away from this is:
1. take some time to feel the movement before jumping in
2. faithfully set a stop
3. play the moves I see and not what I expect will happen because I tend to be early/wrong.
For the most part, I am starting to get a feel for movement. If I am wrong at first, I seem to later be able to get it right after paying closer attention. But, I need to be sharper with my entries... or, maybe I should be more selective about the set-ups I think are worthy of playing.
Certainly, I must be more in tune with playing the extremes of moves and not the S/R levels in the middle of trend. These are low-percentage plays.
To close this out, I'd say lack of patience seems to play a part in most of my faulty paper-trades.
