True, but a short term trader doesn't have to do a full shift. 2-3 hours can work really well. For example, a US trader (East coast), can trade 6am-8am before work. FX has plenty of action. An Asian/Aussy trader can do 5pm-7pm or even later and catch plenty of Euro timeframe action. A European trader can work 7pm-9pm and trade the US. All of the above can be done when working most regular jobs assuming 9-5pm. In fact, it's a great way to work into a full time trading gig with little risk to capital (trade really small), and almost zero pressure to perform and make money (regular job provides the income). Perfect your strategies while working a regular job and if you learn the needed skills go full time. Throw in 2-4 hours of sim trading over the weekend and that's 10-15 hours training every week. That would be around 2,000 hours over 3 years. 3 years of solid work and you're going to get a pretty good feeling if you can make it. If not, cut your losses and re-apply full focus on your current job. Trading isn't for everyone but better to have a go and fail rather than never have a go and never know...
Why not both? Use same trading system but different holding period. In the context of futures instrument, outright requires big capital for interday. You may trade spread instead of outright for interday. For intraday, just trade outright.
Valuable discussion. I’ve wrestled with timing philosophy for a long time. Here is how it worked out for me. Everyone has different needs, but I say why even think in terms of “time” limits? Why not judge a ‘capital allocation’ based on its return? How much you end up with at your trading career game-set-match seems like the ultimate metric. Looking back over 30+ years trying a whole bunch of different trade ideas, my experience has been that opportunities fall into all time frames if you look for it. I still day/swing trade with OK percentages as an interesting challenge, but not so large in the absolute. My best ever mkt return was 19 income stock positions I put on in 2008 and took off in 2012-13. Second largest return was a position put on in 2005 that I still hold today. Third was several years of furious heads down short term trading. Those long term holds were never in the plans, they just turned out that way based on risk & return. I found it interesting to consider that these 20 capital allocations ended up being over half my lifetime take from ”managing money” compared to thousands of my shorter term trades. Arguably, I likely never would have put on those 20 positions w/o all the study/trading work that went before ... still, for the time expended, 80/20 Pareto ultimately convicts me as a shitty short term trader. LOL
I use them both separately and together. Not all day trading is the same, there are hundreds of different strategies out there. Day trading can provide better returns due to higher intraday leverage. There are days that provide returns better than what the market returns on average for a single year. If leverage is not part of the equation at all then I would agree you're better off swing trading. I believe traders should learn swing trading prior to day trading.
Double edged sword with leverage. No one mentions that the losses are also leveraged. It's big losses that blow up accounts.
The OP topic is questioning rather swing trading is better than day trading, not a question if leverage should be used or not, nor are we discussing the typical pitfalls of amateur traders who can't use leverage effectively.
As much as i like it, the long term hold/very long term, might be an equal opponent. Given the recent events with TSLA, and it being $20 at 2010 and almost 10 000% returns, over a decade for those who kept it. (10 k. Word...) The skill that it takes of being such visionaire and the ability to keep it beyond 500%, that's a personal matter to work on, for each one individually. (A challenge ? Good !, - more meaning to ones life, in vast this dead universe)
Some studies claim that the brain creates reality. So if you believe that intraday trading is possible, then it will be possible. Never give up, if every time you fall you get up again you will finally get it. Maxinger is right, nothing is better than intraday trading.
You don't need leverage to come out ahead. I never use leverage and I never risk more than 1% of my bankroll in any trade. Add to that a daytrader is compounding at a faster rate because each days growth compounds at the bankrolls growth from the previous day.