I buy at the initial bottom expecting a rally....and then it turns into this bullshit. How the heck should I have anticipated chop after the big open down?? Other then FOMC week . Chop=death by a thousand cuts, MY BIGGEST WEAKNESS
Russell has been doing that for the past month. 1-2 days a month it does a moonshot to clear out the range then resumes the above. Too many crappy insignificant companies in that index and no FAANGS to garner buying interest.
embrace tha chop - repeat markets mostly chop the trick is to know when the chop will convert to a trend.
You shouldn't feel too bad, I think this is the way most traders trade, so its not like you made an outlandish erratic eccentric decision here. However its only possible to buy right at a bottom by chance, but it is greed that drives people to repeatedly try it. Greed is of course another view of fear - the fear of missing out, the fear of being too late, the fear that there won't be "enough" left. This is emotional trading behind a mask of cold-headed rationality. This is very dangerous. If you want to be in a rally, buy in a rally. Or better, an uptrend.
But I'll bet the majority of new and losing traders are chasing reversals. Why aren't you preying on them? There must be more of them and they are easy prey surely?
heavenskrow, Do not think about chops. Remove chop from your memory. Trade what you see and manage the trade accordingly. I have a rule of not taking more than 4 days trades. If I take more than 4 trades per day, this tell me I am trading in a range like below. After two stop out losses, I am done trading. Disclaimer: I make no money trading. I am still in the trenches trying to get profitable consistently. I only offer my opinion, which could be wrong and not worth a pot of Civil War pinto beans.
%% I hate chop/slop also; even if some one collects dividends thru it. FED days are known for chop. Stocks tend to trend best in first quarter, last quarter. And while pre-election years tend to trend well/finish well ;summer rally is known for weakness/sell in May. No wonder some sell in May + go away. Swing traders/investors may be out on a FED day like today; or they have seen and profited off a thousand up-trends .I would change something , for sure,before i got cut 1000 times, especially since its summer !!,!!! , Keeping records/charts of profits/gains helps.