all things being equal, minute trading makes more than hourly trading which makes more than day trading which makes more than week trading etc and add some nauseum
Sometimes the counter/response to defend EOD swing trading as opportunistic as day trading is to trade multiple uncorrelated markets/stocks. Mathwise this may increasethe opportunity to match day trading. But, right there , the correlation aspect and multi position management makes it the realm of the talented and/or proffessional. Yet i/we spew it out like its a minor thing. Just trade more markets!
Well, that's Trading for you...it's kind of high risk, high reward. If you want slow, steady, safe returns...then just invest in the S&P 500 for the long haul
The difference between the 2 is trading costs , daytraders pay much more % wise in trading costs . For example if you daytrade the ES with 2 points stop you are paying away 0.25/2 = 12.5% in trading costs , which is like paying 12.5 ES points if you swing trade with a 100 points SL . Let me put it this way you pay 0.25 points - askbid spread - : If the ES went up 2 points you are up 1.75 points . And if the ES went down 2 points you are down 2.25 points . See although the ES moved 2 points either way , the difference in outcomes is going to eat your account alive . Another problem with daytrading is overtrading if you do 10 es trades per day and pay 0.25 every time - in spread - , then you pay 55 ES points on a monthly basis ! . Thats why daytrading is very hard , swing trading is hard 2 but less harder . Thats why the BIDASK are crowded in the ES they are trying to catch the spread instead of paying it ! Because thats the EDGE .... Good Luck you/we are going to need it ...
Look at this thread .. https://www.elitetrader.com/et/thre...successful-traders.296140/page-9#post-4308477
99.9999% of the day trading strategies fail, the reason is the edge from most day trading strategies will not sufficient to cover the cost ( commission and slippage). Big institutional (which has ample resources and more smarter people that you and me) already have tried this without any success, this is why their main income still from commissions and market making. I refer to the real BIG institutions here, not those scam bucket shops or prop firms that with the main intention is to make money from you and NOT from market. This is reality but unfortunately no one (especially the new traders with the naive dream) want to accept it. No different that no one want to admit that you can't make a living in gambling, house always wins. From time to time you still see some self proclaimed successful day traders here, but most of them are either : 1. Fail trader in real life, just to come here to find some fake and self inflicted glory, serious mental issues 2. Vendors try to sell something 3. Troy or professional poster linked or sponsored by Broker or bucket shop. The best income from broker/bucket shops are those dump day traders gamblers, so it is important to continue the marketing and keep the fake dreams float around. No different from the lottery tickets company 4. Con man that claim big success in trading, targeting those naive and rich folks. Those con traders normally claim unrealistic return ( 30% or something), in reality they are using high risk high reward strategy which enable them to make this type of return for a few months but will blow up eventually due to the nature of the this type of strategy. The aim is to collect enough "fee" from the short term profits from the dumb and risk followers before the account blow up. 5. The lists goes longer.. Add yours
Day and Swing trading aren't winning strategies. The only retail people who trade for short-term gains are those who will lose all their money and walk away, or those who have so much that they can keep losing, replenish, and keep losing and then boast about being full-time traders on anonymous forums.
A sound method is very hard to build, but it isn't the cause of failure for those who get there. It's greed and leverage that causes failure for competent traders. The risk of ruin is always there