Missing/Re entering Trades

Been having issues, really my entire career, about missing trades and failing to re enter trades. I have rules for both on how I should get in, and get back in, yet I keep making the same mistakes of not being involved. My process for making a watchlist revolves around breakouts. Failed, or successful and following the next few days. From there I have intraday price action patterns or tape following that I use to get into the trades from locations and levels that I think are significant. The trades that I miss still follow that exact same pattern. Looking for areas to get in with minimal risk, before the break happens.

For missed trades sometimes its nothing more than me simply not catching the stock making its move before it happens. My watchlist on average is about 30 stocks a day. A half hour in I already know half of those arent going to setup that day. So while sometimes it is the case that im watching too many to keep up with all of it, majority of the time that isnt the reason I miss a trade. 

I actually do a pretty good job of getting in on my ideas. Its not like I am not charting it ahead of time, see it come into play and just let it go. Sometimes that does happen but thats not what im worried about. Im worried about that times that I do get involved only to exit, and then see what I wanted it to do in the first place. 

Heres some screenshots of trades I successfully re entered. 

Couple here. 1st loss fine. Then came to retest level, held and im back in as we get above. Fails on me again. I dont get back in as it dips lower, fails and reclaims again. Thatis THE spot to get back in (tried, no fill) Settled for re entry on breakout with smaller size. Fine. Caught the win and the idea played out. 

Solid 1st win, took off as it came back, solid re entry on retest of level for another nice win

Several things here. Early morning trade failed, fine. Reclaimed later, retested lower, failed lower again, reclaimed level and in added as we broke higher. Didnt last exited all, but engulfed higher right away and back in. Again didnt quite take off and came back on me, exited all. Settled for breakout re entry.

Here it never tested low enough to retest the HTF level or vwap which is what I want every time. But to see it stalling and holding above the breakout area for several minutes and cant test lower is also significant. 

A loss here but same concept. Tests above, fails and reclaims lower and im back in as we drop.

Now heres some that I have missed and didnt get back in on. All from this month.

Stepping higher and tight. Cant make new lows off of HTF level. Take the dip or buy the rip. Breakout entry is fine. Would have probably lost but context tells buyers are interested so vwap re entry on that fail is also great.

Same as 1st pic. Cant break under, buy the dip or the rip.

Take it as it goes. 

Failed higher up, got under, made range under, tested above range into HTF level and vwap. Clear failure and short.

Have to be fast. Came and retested, theres 1 entry, or the 2nd as it made range breakout and couldnt retest lower.

I remember trying to get filled on this one as it retested last. No fill. But clear level test. 

I remember just watching it go without me. Could have taken the breakdown entry. Very clear. 

Didnt get fill again as it came to retest later in day after reclaiming. Didnt leave order though and could have gotten fill as it drifted back. That buy candle is clear indication to get in.

Not easy, but there is clear retest of range low, that broke lower into HTF zone and got bought. And breakout entries. 

Hard to see but is there. Failed lower, big buy engulf candle. Failed to hold under vwap. Take the break. 

Did take the break. Exited on hidden seller. Didnt drop any lower to retest anything. Made nice range, broke range low, spiked up. Broke high, thats my back in. 

Theres nothing out of the ordinary here. Its recognizing good price action and getting in. All the missed trades are still my setups. Still trades that I should be a part of. 

Every trade I take has a big picture theme. I believe that these are locations where we can trend all day. As long as the stock hasnt made a significant % of its ATR already, those moves can still happen. These trades that I am missing still move well in my favor after I exit them. It isnt like I HAVE to get the best entry possible to still catch a piece of the move.

I become so obsessed with getting the best RR and biggest size that I dont feel comfortable trading anything if I cant get what from the market, I dont want anything at all. And its a backwards way of thinking. The market IS giving me what I want, just not the location. I argue over pennies to give up dollars. 

As long as the market remains above levels I want to see it above, my thesis is still correct and in play. Its my ego that is getting in the way here. "If I cant get what I want, I dont want anything at all."

The EASIEST solution is to tell myself to get in on a break with smaller size. Ive been telling myself that for years but I still dont do it every time. 

Of all my missed trades there are 2 things in common

1. They hit my HTF level and right away turned in favor

2. There is a clear breakout level

These are the only 2 ways I see back into my trades. Or to get into them in the first place. 

And these are some bottom lines. 

1. Even though I may not get best price and RR, I would still be in the trade anyways if I did get it, only thing that has to change is my size to reflect $$ risk I want to take. 

2. The fact it is moving in my favor still after missed entry, tells me im even more correct and need to be in the trade even more so than before. 

3. I can get in with the flow as it is still moving

4. Last resort is to take the breakout or just shortly after.

5. I can ALWAYS add more later to increase size. 

Lately in my trading ive been finding the less I think the better I can do. Same has always applied to me and baseball. I spin my wheels around this stuff for hours/days. The answer is there is no answer. You have to do the thing to have the power. You just have to get back in as long as it is following your big picture idea.  

I always come up with with a planned solution at the end of posts like these to know what I need to do going forward. Im not sure I have one this time. I have re entry rules on a post it note next to me. I do think I want to add some things to it

Re Entry Rules.

-Condition, as long as stock is above HTF levels and still acting bullish, the trade is there. The trade may reset into a new trade well after the 1st trades exit. For trades that I need to get back into right away:

-1min engulfing, back in. 

-Look to get back in at HTF and reset.

IF trade never reaches HTF to reset

-Take the breakout if no other option appeared

             -Taking break risk is not same risk as other LT catches. Use previous pivot as stop. Add near

-Get in with tape flow as buyers may appear

This will be my place to start this again. Missing trades and not getting back in has been my biggest hitch lately and its a must fix. Ill revisit this again on the weekly review.