There a lot of people that do what you are doing. If you think about it for a little while, you will understand how to profit from those emotions.
Lets say you're not quite perfect. Bookmark your entry and do a wash reversal on the bookmark. A bookmark is a thick horizontal line @ your entry price. Now, lets do taking profits. You are watching and sensing the usual greed and fear. You are also making money all the time. Reverse to take profits when you get to either one that comes up. Bookmark it and do a wash reversal when the bookmark gets hit. Here is the essential change you WILL BE making: Before you were on the sidelines and entering at the wrong time. Now, you go in the market a little imperfectly, then get on the right side of the market and stay in the market instead of defeated on the sidelines. You just sit and watch profits build up and take them (profits) on the Greed and fear level you detect BY ONLY DOING REVERSAL TRADES.....NO EXITS ARE ALLOWED. When you take profits from now on, you have to stay in the market with a bookmark. If the bookmark then gets hit you reverse and start making profits again. What is the downside of all of this? Summertime and no volume and the market doesn't move. What is it like to be in a market that isn't moving? Very Dull and inexpensive and on the right side of the market for the next breakout. Keep adding contracts with your profits. You will not get any better at calling Greed and fear. It will just be a slightly early entry on the wrong side of the market.
Assuming you are not buying the exact top, why not sell for profit before the market goes down? Buying high is not the problem. The problem is hanging in for bigger profits and when the price goes against you not exiting in hope that the market will make you whole. This comes from not understanding volatility and probability. Do you go for fixed 3:1 no mater what? Try for few days 1:3 just for a small change. Also try 1:1 etc... Get tools to help you understand where the volatility is at. Under average, average or creasy? I guess you will need some tool to show you where is the price in the market structure. Things like mArket profile, or volume profile or major resistance line, or fib.lines or etc..........
Thanks guys for all the help! it's all mental I think and you must wait and wait till you see a point to enter some days the entry points may not happen! Trading can be very boring
If this is not working for you, go into a practice account and do the exact opposite of what you would normally do, i know its sounds crazy and stupid but if your consistently losing it means you are consistently wrong in the same fashion, so do the exact opposite, most of the time it will train your brain to look at charts differently... You'll be amazed how trading that way for a little bit will train your brain to really see whats going on on the market...
good advice. Maybe starting with something simple and basic would help as well. If you want to get long, wait for a pull back to a moving average or fib line. Atleast then you won't be buying the very top.
Also, as a side note, I don't buy the whole fear/ greed thing. What drives us is not fear or greed, but it's the fear of loss. You don't want to be the only sucker not making money, and that's what drives people to buy at exactly the wrong time.
What key components are you looking at to determine if you are going to buy a stock. Are you looking at 3month charts with certain sma's or are you trying to trade intra day and what is you chart setup. Do you try to determine pivot swings. Need specs.