Caught in the HKEX pre-lunch dip - A sizing lesson.
Was watching $HKEX a few months back, thought it was setting up nicely for a move higher mid-morning. Decided to go in a bit heavier than usual, seeing what I thought was a solid base forming around 275. My mistake was not acknowledging the consistent pre-lunch dip that often occurs, especially on days with lower volume. I sized for a breakout, not for a potential retest of that 275-274 support. It dipped, of course, exactly as it tends to do. While it did recover later in the afternoon, the sizing decision meant I was underwater longer and felt more pressure to exit for a smaller gain than I should have been aiming for. Missed the actual afternoon leg up, which was the real move. It's easy to get ahead of yourself when you like the setup, but ignoring market microstructure patterns for a specific instrument is just sloppy.
Could have easily put on a smaller initial position, then added if it held the dip, or simply waited until after the lunch break. Impatience and overconfidence in my initial read cost me a good chunk of the potential profit on that one, simply by being heavy too early. The setup was fine, the timing and sizing were off.