This is the paradox of day trading: I lose money whenever I focus too much on not losing money.

I missed a cover on a short trade that I had. And because I didn’t realize the profit, I didn’t want to turn that trade into a loss.

It started as a right setup and a great position. I held MYOV overnight and was comfortable holding it pre-market because the resistance area was shown as $13.13. But as the trade opened, it showed me a new resistance area at $12.40 (now I know it was really $12.50)

Initially, the stock opened up in my favor. It tanked immediately down to $11.60, but I missed it. After that, it popped back up to $12.40s where it has started. As it went back up, I set my stop at $12.40. This was my thought process: if I missed out on a profit, at least I didn’t want to turn this trade into a loss. And this is one of the lessons: whenever you choose a stop, round it up to a dollar or half-dollar number. In hindsight, $12.40 was really close to $12.50 which was key for this stock. It is a magnet; the price often spikes up to hit round numbers only to move away from them in the next moment.

The price hit $12.50 (which was above my stop) only to bounce back down into an $11 area. As a result, I missed out on a profit opportunity and incurred a small loss.

It was only a small 5 cent loss, and I broke even at the end of the day. But I learned my lesson about estimating the resistance area and rounding my stops.

Have you experienced a similar situation?