In order of importance to me are: 1) the long term trend, 2) the current chart pattern, and 3)picking a good spot to buy or sell.
The trend is your friend except at the end where it bends.
To avoid whipsaw losses, stop trading.
It can be very expensive to try to convince the markets you are right.
My style is basically trend following, with some special pattern recognition and money management algorithms.
A losing trader can do little to transform himself into a winning trader. A losing trader is not going to want to transform himself. That's the kind of thing winning traders do.