CTIC Trade on May 22, 2014 12:50 from ftai_BOWS: Tradervue User Stock Trades.

Hi Frank,

When I saw the chart, I immediately thought "short". But that may be because pullbacks from resistance are one of my favorite and most successful plays. Looking into it a little more, it looks like there were a few things that might have been working against you:
1. Looks like there was some long-term resistance at 3. Of all the things working against you, this is probably the most important, but it's also the one that's easiest to learn to spot (though I'm not saying I'm great at it - I'm still getting into the habit, and I still miss support and resistance levels alot).
2. 3.0 is a round number, so it automatically has some resistance.
3. Normally it takes at least 3 taps before it can break through long-term resistance, and in this case it only had 1 tap before you got in.
4. This is more esoteric, but the volume on the 2nd run up was a lot lower than volume on the 1st run up to 3. So if it didn't break through the first time, it didn't have much chance to break through the 2nd time (without a few more taps).

One thing that you might also think about is if you can try and get in earlier on the move. You might not have been able to (looks like maybe you started trading late today), but this is something I learned the hard way. I initially tried to get into a move only on confirmation of a break or at least of a new high. But I got my clock cleaned, so I adopted a different style where I try to get in on the early part of a move, before it comes close to the resistance level. Then even if the break-through fails and it reverses quickly, I won't lose as much as if I got in near the top (and I might even still make a small profit). So I'm more and more strict with myself now to not get into a trade unless I have an entry point that gives the stock some room to retrace without stopping me out and making it a loss.

Hope it helps!