Originally posted by goldenarm
You are correct. Swing trading does have its time and place. My point was just that in the past eight or nine months, I've only seen the scalpers make money consistently, not the swing traders. Let's face it, a sideways market is tough on swing traders.
I think to be successful in today's market, you have to be versatile enough to do both. The higher probability trades are the ones that yield singles. By singles, I don't mean nickels in CSCO, but maybe quarters and halves in NVDA, KLAC or EBAY for 500 to 2000 shares. Call me an idiot, but I'd rather take a high probability (70-80%) short-term momentum trade that yields $500 than a 3 or 4 day trade that has a 50% chance of success. When the market is clearly trending up or down, THEN you can incorporate more swing and position trades in the mix. The name of the game is longevity and steady income in this business, not setting yourself up to blow up in any given week.
Just my 2 cents...