When I got to the chart, the market was in a very small trading range after a small bullish spike at the open and a huge overnight gap. When a strong bearish candle broke below the range low and was followed by a solid follow-through bar, I went short. My plan was to hold for a move to close the gap, but I got nervous and took profits at 1.5R when prices started showing signs of reversal — turned out to be a smart move.

After that, the down channel made a new low, and the market formed a small consolidation below the EMA. Then a strong bullish bar broke out of the consolidation. I was hesitant to buy that bar and the one that followed, but when we got a High 1 Buy / Breakout Pullback with a decent signal bar, I entered long. My plan was to go for 2R, back to the current day’s high and the opening range. Once again, I got scared and cut the trade too early — this time it was a mistake, since prices did, in fact, rally all the way to the top of the opening range and beyond.

Prices continued slowly upward and would have hit around 6R on my BOPB trade, while I only managed to get 1R. I didn’t see any good re-entry points on the way up since it felt overdue for a reversal long before it actually happened — but that’s how strong trends disguise themselves; they always look like they’re about to turn.

Even though I exited early, holding trades longer is slowly getting easier for me. There are definite signs of improvement. The next step is to build the same confidence when managing multiple evaluation accounts.