Lesson Learned: The Cost of Chasing Gaps

Was reminded again last week about chasing gaps, specifically with some of the mid-cap tech names that had earnings. I saw a few open strong, indicating initial positive sentiment, and rather than letting the market consolidate or waiting for a pullback to a more sensible entry, I jumped in on the first significant green candle an hour or so after the open. The immediate pop felt good, but predictably, those initial moves often get faded or run into sell-the-news exhaustion. My stop was in place, but it was just a poor entry, pure and simple, driven by a fear of missing out on what looked like an obvious move higher. Ended up taking a small loss on each of them. It's a classic mistake: letting emotion override the discipline of waiting for confirmation or a better setup. Should have just let them go or waited for a cleaner retest of a key level. Patience remains the most undervalued virtue in this game.