We are retail investors, but have to thinking like the Big Boys. The Big Boys buy low and sell high. The retail investors sell low (falling knife) and buy high (FOMO). I agree with you on the falling knife, so I usually look for conviction. I read price action to ensure price wants to move higher. So for example, this is the pattern I'm looking for to go long within a buy zone:

where I'm looking for lower highs to form, than I'm buying a pull back where there are buy orders within a lower time frame...15 or 5 min chart. I call these confirmation entries. Most importantly, I use stops, so if price hits my stops, I just move on to the next set-up.

Does this make sense?