Every good trader I know reviews his/her trades at the end of the day. Today while reviewing my trades I found the same flaw in a couple of losers. In short I was trading what I thought would/could happen. I did not trade what was happening.
1) I was long RCL and
CCL early in the day. I have had success with these names in the past
when they were in play. Today I had one piece of the puzzle with earnings on CCL. But I did not see confirmation in the price action of the stock or the options.
2) AIG - I am guilty of trading this from the long side early today because I did not feel I made enough in it yesterday. Again this was not in play on the long side. I was trading what I thought might happen.
Reviewing trades at the end of the trading day helps me evaluate my trades and what made them profitable or unprofitable. During the day I may have thought my timing was off. Upon further review I had poor selection on these plays. I had nice winners in AMZN, LH, DGX, and CIT today. But my day could have been better without the out of play names in between.