I'd rather miss a huge run than buy a high and lose money. Yet I have no problem buying dips in prices and new lows then having price go against me more and waiting to generate a profit.
How many trades per month do you enter on average? How much adverse excursion are you willing to endure?
I'd rather take a quick loss than have a trade go against me and tie my capital up while i wait for a turn around. By taking a quick loss I eliminate the question; How long do I wait before I sell this loser? Every big loss starts out as a small loss.
Well, it is psychology. Think of it as buying strength vs weakness. So you're buying high and selling higher. No need to try pick bottoms, you're trying to catch the meat of the trend. If you're thinking of it in terms of buying low and cost basis, that's a different psychology and approach, and will most likely contradict what you are trying to do. You will you have to change the way you think in that case...
I wouldn't. Wait for a proper correction or skip the trade. There's a million other trades out there that are just starting to take off.
buy after the end of the first retracement. If you missed this signal, - buy after the end of the 2nd retracement but with the reduced quantity or - don't buy at all. Instead, go and reflect on why you missed the first signal.
%% I like to buy new highs+ buy corrections\sell corrections. Worked better sometimes with SPY.......than QQQ last year\ usuallyQQQ + related is better. Good thing for me i seldom pay attention to 5 minute noise charts HOW?? HUGE amount of trend study/ an up trending bull market /makes new highs all the time.............................................................I may not do that in SEPT, so have to use discretion also