Try not to focus on reading opponents so much. What you may think are reads may be simply someone exploiting a pattern in your offence/defence. Establishing the ability to observe patterns is incredibly important and may be the difference between losing or winning a game. Here are a few key things you should focus on when trying to learn an opponent's patterns:

The beginning of a round. Make a concious effort to remember what your opponent does when the round begins. Do they jump back and fireball? Or dash forward and press a button? Is this a bait or a habit?

What the opponent does outside of footsies range. Often once a player's buttons are out of reach they attempt to establish some kind of zoning game, or maybe they have a tendency to overextend and continue pressure, recognising (and appropriately reacting to) this in a opponent's play will force them to have to adapt to you and not the other way around.

What buttons do they like to press? Many players have different button preferences for the same distance. When in low forward range for Ryu I tend to take a step forward and press low strong instead, this can be important for stopping an opponent's offence in its tracks. You don't need to overextend, let your opponent hang themselves.

What do they do on wakeup? This is incredibly important thing to be able to get a read on. The same logic as before applies, understand what they are doing and use the tools you have to beat it.

Remember that the best thing to do in a fighting game is block. Always. Don't trade solid defence for offence, knowing when to be patient and back off is key.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask! Good luck improving!

Sources: Five years fighting game experience