Lesson Learned: The Cost of Chasing the Last Tick

Been trading for a while, mostly discretionary, some algos on the side. One of the biggest lessons I learned, the hard way, was about chasing the absolute top or bottom. It sounds simple, right? Don't be greedy. But for me, it manifested specifically in holding a winning position on something like $BTC, seeing it surge, then waiting for just 'one more candle' thinking I could milk out that last 0.5% gain. More often than not, that 'one more candle' would turn into a sharp reversal, erasing a good chunk of unrealized profit and forcing me to exit significantly lower than I could have. The psychological hit of leaving so much on the table, purely out of greed for an extra sliver, was far more painful than taking a small loss. It wasn't overtrading or revenge, just a stubborn belief that I could perfectly time the very peak. Now, I try to scale out or, at the very least, have a hard mental target that I stick to, even if it means leaving a little bit on the table. Profit is profit, and watching it evaporate because of a few ticks of stubbornness is just dumb. It really drives home the point that a good exit is as crucial as a good entry.