Swing Trading > Day-trading.

[achilles28]

These are all valid points and I don't believe it has to be one or the other. It is nice to be able to incorporate both if you can have no issues with that.

Let's say just for an example (not an all inclusive one) but you've completed a nice intra-day trade and took some profits, but according to your read you see no reason to exit yet, I have no issues with keeping a runner on at break even (or whatever your strategy calls for) if that improves your profit factor, in fact that's just smart trading.

So may seem like I am contradicting myself now and maybe I am lol. But some people don't like holding overnight as that does add extra risk. I am a very active trader so for me personally leaving a trade on when I could be away from PC for 8-16 hours prior to checking it again isn't appealing and doesn't work for me, but obviously doesn't mean it can't work for others.


Ultimately I think diversifying through time would be the answer, as you could have both. If you can apply your strategy to let's say a longer term chart, while also applying the same or different strategy on a smaller time frame, than you now can both swing and catch quicker moves.

Not sure that's making sense, but just my thoughts.

Makes perfect sense. I agree. Maybe the answer then is not really what strategy we trade and timeframe, but how we manage risk?

 

[achilles28]

Run until when?

Longer then a day trade. A couple days. A week. A couple weeks etc

 

[achilles28]

Day Trading is harder, got to be righter than swing, 6pts accuracy on entry not 50pts, which is going to make most think Swing is better but.........

Get good at Day Trading and risk 1% chance some could run for 5% profit in a single trade, factor in say 10 trades per day ( not scalping ) you can easily on a small account make 10-15% per day ( been there done that, not often enough though )

Swing, risk 2% might get 4% on some trades, but week hold average say.

50% per week profit, or watch paint dry for a week for 4% but 40% of weeks even for a good swing trader will be -2%.

So in summary, Day Trading is harder, but it can turn average poor Joe into a Rich Joe in pretty short time when/IF you get good at it, Swing if your poor isn't going to rock your world any time soon, ofcourse very hard to get good at Day Trading.

And I'm getting there 1 trade today +4% to account in about 4mins

Those numbers look pretty accurate.

50% a week ain't too shabby. Even 50% a month is ridiculous. I can handle the scratch weeks. better to have time on my side then against me.

 

[kmiklas]

The problem with swing trading is that if the market moves against you in that loooong time between market close and open the next day (or even longer if you hold over the weekend), grab your ankles!

You can try limit orders during after-hours to save some, but with any kind of spike... get in line.

 

[d08]

Do trends only exist in the intraday time frame ?

What benefit is it to close a profitable intraday position and reopen it the next day ?

Why even bother to close it at all ?

Very simple, you cannot exit if news come out during the night. Stops and whatnot won't be triggered, you have no control.

Anyway, it's much harder to estimate what will happen in 3 days, a week and further in the future. Politics, wars and other crisis can't be foreseen.

 

[trdes]

Very simple, you cannot exit if news come out during the night. Stops and whatnot won't be triggered, you have no control.

Anyway, it's much harder to estimate what will happen in 3 days, a week and further in the future. Politics, wars and other crisis can't be foreseen.

Exactly, If you can be consistently profitable via intra-day without holding overnight. I don't see a need to expose yourself to overnight risk, although as said don't have any issues with a runner if you've locked in profits, particularly if speaking of something more stable like ES futures.

 

[d08]

There are edges in trading the non-RTH but you need to size accordingly even when dealing with futures because the liquidity is different.

 

[achilles28]

It's funny. I view it as extremely risky NOT to hold overnight now....

 

[trdes]

It's funny. I view it as extremely risky NOT to hold overnight now....

I mean it is and it isn't. It's like a lot of things depends on the person. Really not trying to beat a dead horse, but again if you have deep understanding of the market and intra-day trading there's almost always at the very least 1-3 strong high quality entries per day for a long and/or short set up.

So there's not really any fear of being priced out. Where as someone who can't give full attention to intra-day trading or can't as easily locate where to buy on a more micro level, than I can see where you can't afford to let the market run up or down 20 points next day without being in.

There's not really a correct or right answer here.

 

[achilles28]

I mean it is and it isn't. It's like a lot of things depends on the person. Really not trying to beat a dead horse, but again if you have deep understanding of the market and intra-day trading there's almost always at the very least 1-3 strong high quality entries per day for a long and/or short set up.

So there's not really any fear of being priced out. Where as someone who can't give full attention to intra-day trading or can't as easily locate where to buy on a more micro level, than I can see where you can't afford to let the market run up or down 20 points next day without being in.

There's not really a correct or right answer here.

I agree. Trading is an art form. A canvas. A blank slate. Whatever works.

Personally, i day trade entries as above and swing trade exits. If a trader can get in with a fairly tight stop during the day why not let it run ?

Isn't that the essence of let winners run? Isn't that how all the professional hedge fund guys do it? Build a big position and hold it over time ?