I would say it is just your risk tolerance problem. your strategy is fine, whether you trade against the trend or follow the trend, both are ok!
the real question is: how much are you able to tolerate? most people will get shaken out even their position is perfectly right becuase they can not suffer any temperary paper loss. I did lots of vertical bar short sale or bottom picking, it is a great trading style. like yesterday FMD jumped 70%+, I reasoned today it will drop like a rock, so I shorted it in the opening, yes, I suffered minor temperary loss, but I feel I got the fish, I hold it till it hit 3.8!
what a profitable trade!
I shorted FLOW today at 8.0+, temperarialy it went against me some, but I held on, it gave back.
of course, market extreme does exist, so be cautious if paper loss exceeds your imination, put a loss plan ahead!
why it is so easier to lose? very simple, you are underfunded and the market is just changing in every seconds and full of uncertainity, today you bought a dip and you may gain, but next day that may not work, today you shorted a rally and the rally fell and you gained, but next day you shorted a rally and the market toke off and never fall! that means whatever stargtegy you use, you may lose! this will shake your confidence in using the strategy you think is profitable! you will end up: take profit early (you are afraid of reoccuring loss) or let a loser run (you will stick to your stubburn trading idea since once you used that successfuly, you may think this time it should work too)
to correct this problem, put up an account at least $50k bigger, then select the statistically most workable trading idea ( I think short hype or bottom fishing is great trading idea, the success odd is very high based on my experience)