I've never been in a stock for more than 3 weeks. The only reason i stayed in that stock is because it was up almost every day.
If you ever read technical analysis of the financial markets, Murphy explains why 3 is such an important number.. which is why my holding period is 3 days to 3 weeks max.
Usually they're in profit straight away - however it's been a frustrating 3 days with a number getting stopped out at the swing low and the rest just sitting there slightly negative. There was no reason to exit them as the charts still looked OK. Finally this afternoon they all turned into profit...
Mine take anywhere from a few hours to 5-10 days. Options trades are faster than stock trades for me. With stocks it can take 15-30 days sometimes. Visit my blog to see my trades http://lauristonletter.blogspot.com/
cashmoney69, you should be focusing on day trading if you have the time if not swing is fine, but day trading is the top when it comes to this profession keep in mind I didn't write scalping there is a difference