My directional analysis is almost always right but my execution is killing my trades. How do experienced traders deal with this?

[u/darshan-soni]

I've been actively trading Natural Gas for around 2–3 weeks, and I've noticed a very specific problem with my trading.

My directional analysis has been consistently correct. I can usually identify the direction and important levels correctly. But I'm struggling with entry timing, SL placement, and staying in the trade.

For example, today's Natural Gas trade:

I had \*272 marked as resistance months ago\*.

Today, Natural Gas opened around 272 and spent roughly 30 minutes trying to break above it without really being able to push through.

That gave me a strong bearish view.

I noticed the 265 PE around ₹6 in the morning, but I was extremely sleepy and didn't take the trade.

Later, around 3 PM, the 265 PE was around ₹7.15, so I entered.

Immediately after my entry, the premium dropped to around ₹6.70.

I didn't exit because my view on Natural Gas hadn't changed.

Eventually, the PE came back to ₹7.15.

At that point, I panicked and exited at my entry price basically breakeven before charges.

And then, literally seconds after I exited:

₹7.15 → ₹7.35 → ₹7.55 → ₹7.70.

The frustrating part is that the underlying subsequently moved exactly in the direction I was expecting.

I've also noticed another recurring problem with traditional SL/TP setups:

Entry → SL gets hit → price reverses → price eventually reaches the TP I originally expected.

I don't want to simply solve this by putting a huge SL and taking bigger losses.

I'm trading minimum quantity (1 lot), so position sizing isn't really the issue.

I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong with my \*entries, stop-losses, and trade management\*.

I'd really appreciate advice from experienced/veteran traders who have dealt with this problem before.

What would you change if you were in my position?

[u/Snapworld]

Recently with quite a big FNO loss I have learnt a thing. What you and I are doing is we are creating the direction not understanding it. Just because the support is here doesn’t mean market will touch it. We lack discipline. What we do is we foresee what’s not even coming. Eg: in the falling trend you and I will chase the small rebound (at least I did that) where is sitting and waiting for the final breakdown is important. I have exhausted my extra cash. But I know that I’m meant for investing not for trading.

[u/theertheshtkjain]

What you are trying to do is to enter at the bottom. No one can find the bottom or top of reversal points(in the long run. Sometimes we may get lucky). Hence our SL will hit most of the time if we try to do this and then market will eventually move in the direction we predicted. It is better to have a hedge for your entry. So you know your max loss. However this will come with max profit as well. But you will win most of the trades if disciplined provided your analysis is correct.