Quote from NoDoji:
I've often said this as well and once posted two charts side by side, a 5-min chart and a daily chart, to demonstrate that price bar patterns look the same no matter what the time frame and as long as you choose a time frame to trade, stick with it and learn to trade it with an edge and good money management, you can be successful.
The big difference in day trading is that you have to make decisions quickly. If you want to swing trade something you can leisurely review static charts at any time, choose an entry price, place a GTC stop or limit order to get you into the position, set your stop loss and profit target (or just trail a stop day by day) and take a peek at your holdings now and then.
If you want to day trade, you're watching price bars in your time frame go by every N minutes, and need to make decisions quickly about what constitutes a valid setup, the price that would trigger your entry, where you'd place a stop (or where you'd average down and place a max stop, if that's your style), where to reasonably target profit taking, how to manage the trade in progress, etc. If you're day trading off price bars of 5 mins or less, these decisions often have to be made very quickly. If you're trading more than one thing, it compounds the complexity of recognizing setups and managing trades.
One of the most common things I read in day trading journals here is along the lines of, "I hesitated and it turned out to be a great trade and I missed it." Or, "I missed the entry and chased the trade..." Or, "The trades I didn't take were big winners and the ones I did take were losers."
To day trade intraday swings off time frames of 5 mins or less, you need preparation (minor and major S/R levels, plus trend direction in your time frame and the larger time frame), focus (no reading emails, playing video games, getting up late and missing the nice morning volatility), instant identification of a setup (know what it looks like as it forms at the hard right edge, not just on a static chart at the end of the day), and the ability to place your limit or stop orders in advance to prevent yourself from hesitating or missing the entry altogether. You need to stay focused during periods of boring price action because out of narrow ranges/consolidation come big moves and that's your daily bread and butter.
So unless you're able to recognize (setups) patterns quickly in real time and act on them right away, throughout the day, trading all valid setups, you will be much better off swing trading, IMHO.
The reason the day trades beginners take are losers or b/e and the ones they miss are the big winners is often because the big moves come out of volatile price action in a fast moving market on volume, which is "scarier" than trading after a move is done and price consolidates for the next push. Then everyone has time to think about the same stuff and you get chopped up because there's indecision, though it seems easier to trade that stuff, but it's trying to make something out of nothing when you missed the "big something" while it was in progress.
