i just started trading equities full time about 2 mos. ago. i'm breaking even, but more importantly i see the opportunity for more money. my plan is to make money on the ups/dwns. currently i've only been able to successfully do that once or twice. in my short time i have realised as many have said here that swing trades are just day trades gone bad. however it is possible to take a long or short position overnight if you're confident in the price movements for the next trading day. in the future i could definitly see myself taking a long or short position for a longer time period and still playing the intraday movements. kinda like a short term 401k plan. lol
I've been swing trading ES in my sim account based on a reversion-to-mean strategy from Keltner channel overshoots on the daily chart (20-period EMA; 1.0 Dev) with great success. I've been using stops just outside the pivot high. (There've been no channel line overshoots to the downside since the Thanksgiving panic selloff, so all my positions have been short; but keep in mind a trend-following swing strategy would be taking a long position on every dip just below the 20 EMA that moves back thru the 20 EMA.) I like the fact that there is more protection against gaps with futures swing trades, and am considering doing some swing positions live. Looking at an ES daily chart right now, a trend follower would consider a swing long position if price dips below today's low then retraces back through today's low. (Today's low rests exactly at the 20day EMA, which is most likely why a bounce occurred there today). In fact a trend follower very likely is already in a swing long position from that pivot low area. A counter-trend trader would be short from somewhere in the 1147-1144 range, stop above 1148 and probably still in at least a portion of the position in case we get a ride back to or through the lower channel line.
Definitely less commission churn swing trading, and less time commitment. If you get your size up you can make very good money.
Probably will take you a lot longer to learn to swing trade because it will take more time to get setups. 1 year of day trading experience probably equals about 3-5 years of swing trading experience.
In choosing between daytrading and swing trading - its also a matter of your ability to focus. Some people don't have the laser focus needed for daytrading. They need to see a trade setting up over a couple of days to mull it over. In day trading you don't have time to mull anything over. In addition, if you swing trade you can ignore some of the randomness of the market that would fake you out as a day trader. There is also quality of life. Some people don't like sitting in front of a screen all day being isolated. You can swing trade and do other things or work, while checking the market 2-3 times a day (less the better). With swing trading you might be better off with options. With futures you might get faked out by after-hour moves (the easier it is to get out, the more you will probably get out at the wrong time).
Little Johnny was a bad boy in class. He had to stay after class and write on the blackboard a hundred times D I S C I P L I N E. The teacher told Johnny if he repeats his mistakes and refuses to understand the meaning of discipline that she would feel bad as a teacher but would feel worse for Johnny because he would be the loser in the end. Discipline is the KEYWORD of trading, without it a trader is a sure loser. Let there be no mistake about it. To trade is to anticipate a move, to visualize it on the chart before it happens. That will come when you can look at a chart and visualize with a high degree of certainly what price "SHOULD" do. Without at least that degree of certainty to pull the trigger you are just guessing. Discipline to enter a trade and pre-planned discipline to exit a trade if it is a loser is all thats needed to play this game. To exit on a loser is easy because if you visualized on the chart what your trade needs to do to be a winner and it does not almost IMMEDIATELY go there if you entered on the acutal signal then you know you are wrong. No bones about it. When mkt opens you have a job to do, you are a slave to what the mkt is doing, what it will do and how you will follow along like an obedient little Johnny. It takes very, very, mature rock solid discipline to win at this game. Nothing else will get the job done. You have to know how to lose gracefully and how to enter only when you can see a target and the loss point all at once. Do not be a Johnny, do not be the class clown. PS: daytrading is actually easier than swing trading because at any moment you can get flat and go out for lunch or whatever and come right back and pop up your chart and "carry on". To swing trade is to worry, screw that. PSS: i used to carry overnightts in bonds, because of gaps i hedged the trade in a seperate account..........guess what i found out? Yep, that was a waste of time...........just get flat and daytrade and be done with it, enjoy sleeping.
I would add: Say to yourself out loud what price should do and why. Say it twice out loud, then pull the trigger. If price doesn't do THAT, you're out, whether a day trade or a swing trade. Now if I could only get myself to pull every trigger...