[rickv]

King,
A couple things to help your timing issue -
1. $TRIN - where and what was it doing - Setup your trin on a line chart you want to know what the overall trend is doing. The number is important also but more so the trend. To keep it simple >1.0 is bearish and <1.0 bullish

The market was completely rotation in the morning on the 13th. Caution: unless you know how to trade a rotational market. ie. Buy the lows and sell the highs. A gap down to demand is not a short.

2. The VIX another simple tool to keep you on the right side of a trade. notice at the open it was sideways also. The VIX is inverse of price action and once it started to trend and we broke the lows it started trending higher.

Just a couple tools that will keep you on the right side of a trade - sounds simple but it really works.

Good Luck - Don't make more out of trading than what it is. It's all about buyers and sellers and supply and demand. Become a student of price and volume and you will understand the markets.