Twenty Third: It's a Trap!

Summary

I did not follow my original plan because I got scared out of my position. If I held strong, I would have not lost as much as I wanted to on commissions. Other than that, I think I did an okay job with my longs to shorts switching. There are plenty to work on, but not following my own plan is just a big blow to my morale because of how basic that concept should be.

The stock below was kind of hard to play for me and I was trapped multiple times. I completely was off with volume and level 2 because it was low with small pops. If I followed the trends, I would have been okay. 

Ticker: RIGL

Another mess of a trade because I was not patient. Lost too much on commissions.

I learned that a chart that gaps and doesn't continue will typically go sideways throughout the day. If it holds the channel, it can squeeze the shorts. I played both long and short and switched accordingly. However, I did not follow my plan which burned me at the end. 

This chart had low volume all day. For these types of charts, I must depend on the uptrend and downtrend patterns. It broke out from my initial symmetrical triangle so I longed. When it went down, I sold off and drew and new downtrend line. I then purchased on the next pop. I did, but waited too long to sell. My stop at the time was $3.51 and when it reached $3.50, I got scared and sold off! It didn't touch $3.51 and just dropped before it broke out of the downtrend. I should have just followed the trends. Volume here didn't help much.

Note: I need to stick to my plan and the trends I draw. Especially for stocks with low volume, I read the LVL2 incorrectly and it tricked me twice. On my last try to long, I followed the volume instead of the trend and called it a day. Two minutes later, it just broke out and I lost even more on commission. I really need to the trends.

Note: Other than that, my transitions from long to short got better. I need to remember that volume is there to help, but the chart is what matters. All I needed to do was follow the trends to be okay. I also need to know if it is worth the time to spend on one chart compared to another.

Side Note: This stock was referred to me by VinnyB. I really appreciated it, but I don't think I will be going into stocks that I am not familiar with. The times I do, I get fucked because I am not skilled enough to play on the spot. I need to solidify my basic knowledge with stocks I am familiar or else I won't be skilled enough to play a random one. 

Please let me know if you have any comments or opinions. I would like to know if you have spotted any mistakes in my logic.