Never would I have expected this beaten down stock to almost double on me, but...that's why it is important to do your homework!

Some principles I am learning...
1) Watch the volume traded, and the size of the trades, these give an indication of where the money is flowing and can help you to identify the momentum...of the false signals
2) Don't get sucked in by false signals, follow proper trading principles...establish your stop-loss positions first and size your trades properly... don't jump in and get sucked up by the momentum going down
3) if day trading, use the hourly and 15min charts properly...
4) for slightly longer, candlesticks and moving averages are your friends...establish the direction and the momentum, before you put in any trades...
Short term trading has to be disciplined if you want to make money

My most important habit is to slow myself down and ask relevant questions of a stock I am going to buy...for example...
Asking myself:
1) Am I happy with the value of this business?
2) Will I be ok if the price falls 50%?
3) Is this a long term value play? or a gamble?
+ other questions...

A mentor once reminded me after an investment loss...the market is like getting a green light because over time, the market goes up because businesses grow, so just like driving...we can simply coast along, enjoying the view
Occasionally, we get the amber/yellow caution light where we have to be cautious...
But the most important function of the stoplight is the RED light, as it literally saves lives but making us stop before we venture into dangerous territory.
It was a great story that I have remembered til now. I put in a stop-loss into every trade, based on my valuation or technical chart calculations BEFORE I execute a trade.
Setting a stop-loss allows me to minimize losses and redeploy money out of losers and into winners
But just like in

I have lost money due to tips from friends, and due to "fantastic news!" from insiders or someone who knows someone!
Yet, on the other hand, I also have investments that I have held for over 15 years...which have paid dividends and multiplied several times the invested value already
I see the short term mistakes as the price to pay for not being disciplined and doing my homework. But the good thing is that those mistakes are small and they have taught me lessons on how to do proper valuations and to understand the fundamentals of a business.
Learning how to value a business is much more useful in investing than following stock picks, at the end of the day, we are buying a business NOT a ticker price.
Painful lessons are useless if we ignore the pain, but extremely valuable when we learn from it