It is frustrating to be stopped out of a trade, only to see the stock quickly recover and then move exactly the way you had expected it to in the first place.
It is as if “they” knew where your stop was and deliberately went and got it
The thing is there are a lot of traders who are looking at the same charts as you, seeing the same patterns, and placing stops at identical levels. It is a big target for “stop hunters.”
There are different ways to avoid being a victim. One is to change your trading time frame. If you use daily charts then switch to a weekly time frame. Stop hunting is less common on the longer time frames.
When you trade using weekly charts it forces you to place wider stops, which keeps you in the trade longer. This extra time allows for your original trading thesis to play out.
But it also means that you will have to take a smaller position size to accommodate the wider stop loss level. The idea is that you will be compensated for your smaller position size, by remaining in trades longer and not being stopped out too early.
Trading weekly charts still requires a disciplined trading plan but it can ease the pressure associated with daily trading charts.
So, if you have been having trouble with market volatility or it just seems that your trading timing is off, try trading on the weekly time frame for a while.