Day trading vs swing trading vs investing...

Day trading vs swing trade

  • day trade

    Votes: 8 44.4%

  • swing trade

    Votes: 9 50.0%

  • investing

    Votes: 1 5.6%
  • Total voters
    18
V

vincentnyc

Before you continue further...here is my definitions below:

day trade - open and close the position on the same ticker before the end of the day.

swing trade: opening and closing a position by holding more than 1 days. closing in a couple of days, weeks or month.

investing - holding the same ticker for more than 1 year.

so what do you guys prefer here? which one do you use for the least amount of work for maximum return?
 
I do all three. The bulk of my money is in retirement accounts where I dollar cost average into low cost index funds. I also buy individual stocks there...may hold for a few months to a few years. My trading account is used for swing/day trading. With this approach, I could blowup my trading account and it would not affect my retirement plans. If the market crashes 50%, there is a good a chance my trading account can do quite nicely, smoothing out the overall equity curve.
 
Short term trading is no doubt the best for small accounts (anything under $10m) because there's so much action.

Take the 1m chart for example. 10 hours x 60 bars = 600 bars of action. Over a year there's only 250 daily bars so in just one day of 1m, it's the same as 2.5 years.

Many people shy away from the 1m because they say it's too fast (it's not, it's just quick, and anyone can handle that if they train for it), it's too choppy (sometimes, yes, often, not), the algos play with you (not that I've seen, don't blame the algos because they're fantastic for business, go back to pit trading and you'll be begging for the algos!), it's too random (no it's not).

Try the 1m is my advice, it's perfect...
 
Robert Morse said:
I prefer to get into a position and exit when it hits my target. Unlikely to be intraday but I put no time limit on it. Some are a week when I get lucky but most are weeks to months.
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Will you hold a position indefinitely if it doesn't hit your target?

I usually exit a position if it stalls. There is likely another opportunity that offers better returns.
 
I have, as long as my expectations have not changed and I do not have anything better to allocate to. I only use my Roth. My longest position is on right now, about 2 years. I have another for about a year.

deaddog said:
Will you hold a position indefinitely if it doesn't hit your target?

I usually exit a position if it stalls. There is likely another opportunity that offers better returns.
More...
 
Robert Morse said:
I have, as long as my expectations have not changed and I do not have anything better to allocate to. I only use my Roth. My longest position is on right now, about 2 years. I have another for about a year.
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Have the targets increased for these positions?
It seem like a long time to tie up capital.

I have positions that I have held to a long time but I don't set targets, my exit strategy is a trend break.
 
My Roth has no leverage but is well funded. There was a time in December where I ran out of cash and wanted to make a short term trade, expected about two weeks. I sold enough of this other symbol to buy that stock, then went I got out, bought the other one back. It is nice when you do that in a Roth you do not have a taxable event, so it is easier. I did the same thing over the summer. That one had a time limit as it was COVID-related.

deaddog said:
Have the targets increased for these positions?
It seem like a long time to tie up capital.

I have positions that I have held to a long time but I don't set targets, my exit strategy is a trend break.
More...
 
Last edited:
I started investing during the time when we had to use the calculator and graph paper
to plot the charts.

Later I migrated to swing trading as I was not a good investor.

Subsequently, I migrated to be a day trader as swing trading
was not for me.
 
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