Not me. I'm lazy. The less time I spend in front of a screen the better. If I wasn't beating the index I'd probably buy the ETFs and exit with a trend change.
Good trading.
My Move to Swing Trading
- Thread starter John9999
- Start date
Not me. I'm lazy. The less time I spend in front of a screen the better. If I wasn't beating the index I'd probably buy the ETFs and exit with a trend change.
Good trading.
I agree with both sides of the day trader/swingtrader coin:
[Day trader]
Pro's: Out clean at the end of the day and can sleep at night.
Con's: Hectic in & out of trades, watching the screens all day.
[Swing Trading]
Pro's: Set up your trade and let it Profit or Stop over the course of time.
Con's: You holding long positions overnight, and you just happened to look at the overnight
futures before bed and the Dow is down -100 points (or greater). That night you don't sleep well wondering if the negative market opening will open below your stop.
I do both kinds of trading for the past 20 years.
The most helpful suggestion that I can make is to use complex orders whenever possible.
I don't care if its a day trade or a swing trade, I use
Semi-Automated Bracket Orders:
[Day trader] Bracket Order: Buy Limit, Sell Limit, Stop (all Day Orders).
[Swing Trader] Bracket Order: Buy Limit, Sell Limit, Stop, all GTC (Good till Cancelled orders).
This method of setting trade parameters reduces screen watching and overall stress for both types of trading, particularly as you get older, or burn't out from too much screen time.
[Day trader]
Pro's: Out clean at the end of the day and can sleep at night.
Con's: Hectic in & out of trades, watching the screens all day.
[Swing Trading]
Pro's: Set up your trade and let it Profit or Stop over the course of time.
Con's: You holding long positions overnight, and you just happened to look at the overnight
futures before bed and the Dow is down -100 points (or greater). That night you don't sleep well wondering if the negative market opening will open below your stop.
I do both kinds of trading for the past 20 years.
The most helpful suggestion that I can make is to use complex orders whenever possible.
I don't care if its a day trade or a swing trade, I use
Semi-Automated Bracket Orders:
[Day trader] Bracket Order: Buy Limit, Sell Limit, Stop (all Day Orders).
[Swing Trader] Bracket Order: Buy Limit, Sell Limit, Stop, all GTC (Good till Cancelled orders).
This method of setting trade parameters reduces screen watching and overall stress for both types of trading, particularly as you get older, or burn't out from too much screen time.
John9999,
Good job John. I'm happy you find a profitable money making strategy that fits your comfort. Either way doesn't matter, if it makes money, it makes sense.
I like day trading cause that's all I know and limit myself to 1 or 2 trades per day. And I like to feeling of making money everyday. Swing trading I tried, but holding ES overnight, I noticed I woke up often to see if I got stopped out. Lol
But swing trading is cool too. Good work John, take the Saturday and Sunday off work.
What you describe is a subset of day trading called scalping. Not all day traders scalp. Some of us "swing" trade inside intraday. By that, I mean we get in a setup and stay in as long as the premise of our trade is intact. We may only take 1-2 trades a day. It is a less stressful way of day trading.
Thank you everyone for your input. I guess we all just have to try to find our way. As someone already mentioned this extremely challenging to not watch the minute by minute movements now that I’ve become a swing trainer. I guess old habits die hard. And waking up in an overnight to see what’s happening is also a challenge for me. Thankful futures market is closed on weekends.
But I have to look at results. And even though I enjoy the involvement of day trading overall it was stressing me out, distracting me from other work and just not working
But I have to look at results. And even though I enjoy the involvement of day trading overall it was stressing me out, distracting me from other work and just not working
I can't blame you one bit for bailing on ES daytrading...horrendous volatility.
You CAN daytrade the HSI, HHI on the Hong Kong Exchange and the Xina50 (IB symbol) on the Singapore Exchange. They trade pretty much in unison. Some nights (EST) you'll also see the NQ tracking the trend of these three.
In Eastern Standard Time, they trade their morning sessions from 9:00 PM (HSI/HHI start at 9:15 PM) to 12 AM. It's the most fun you'll ever trading intraday. They're so volatile that you would be mad to hold them past the current session. Xina50 is less jumpy but has long trends. It's a cheap contract tick so you need about 10 to make it worth your while (trades in USD).
Also, the HSI and HHI trade in Hong Kong Dollars but the HKD is pegged to the USD so there's no currency risk. Unfortunately, they're not Section 1256 Contracts so they don't get 60/40 US tax treatment.
You CAN daytrade the HSI, HHI on the Hong Kong Exchange and the Xina50 (IB symbol) on the Singapore Exchange. They trade pretty much in unison. Some nights (EST) you'll also see the NQ tracking the trend of these three.
In Eastern Standard Time, they trade their morning sessions from 9:00 PM (HSI/HHI start at 9:15 PM) to 12 AM. It's the most fun you'll ever trading intraday. They're so volatile that you would be mad to hold them past the current session. Xina50 is less jumpy but has long trends. It's a cheap contract tick so you need about 10 to make it worth your while (trades in USD).
Also, the HSI and HHI trade in Hong Kong Dollars but the HKD is pegged to the USD so there's no currency risk. Unfortunately, they're not Section 1256 Contracts so they don't get 60/40 US tax treatment.
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Just wait until you get involved in what the industry generally calls "position trading", which you could call a longer-time subset of "swing trading". But position trading in futures? Man, that definitely puts hair on your ass. After the equity future roll in 3 weeks, I'll be back in live. I'm sweating it a bit, but have faith in the 4th quarter.
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Bigger trends are more fun+ less commissions.I think BAC bought them out , but i liked the name/nature = Chicago Research & Trading ,more than trading + research.
OMG... I haven't even touched on the commission issue... uhh let's see... I have gone from an average of at least 5 round trips per day (that's approx $5600 per year / per contract traded) to now one or 2 per month (about $108 / per contract / per year)