from reading alexander elder's book he makes a interesting argument that very few day traders survive due to the channels on intraday charts not bieng high enough. However, swing traders could be profitable if he uses daily charts to buy and hold for a few days do you guys agree? is it better for a beginner to formulate a swing trading strategy
Hi Use the search function in the upper right of the page. One or two years ago there was endless discussions about this topic. With Don, rtharp, pretorian and all the other smart guys. Short IMHO: If you trade liquid markets like the e-index futures or e-fixed income, use very low commissions such as Interactive, a "small" account trading not 200 lots at a time and a strategy that works no Swingtrader can compete with your performance either in absolute performance nor risk to reward. The basics: risk-, money-, position-, and exitmanagement are the same. But the question should answer your life. Can you sit the whole day in front of a computer without getting paid one cent for one or two years - only sitting there to learn? or do you have to go to work to pay your daily bills? If first, stay at home and try daytrading - if second give swingtrading a try. How ever good trading
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% I do both:I would have been better off doing more swing trading,smaller size at first. Part of it would be personality ;even those that do sucessfully daytrade [harder of two for me ]clearly are better off trading SMALLER SIZE until they know what they doing. Lynx trader rtharp increased his timeframe[!] to 1 minute candles,after scalping;dont know his time frame now. Did more planned smaller time frame in a bear market, which we are NOT in now, including 30 minute candles. Still include 30 minute candles in this bull market,use more of them and more important, use most all Esignal time frames. +========================================== ''Wisdom is the principal thing there fore get wisdom''-Solomon
What's better in a directionless market? That is my concern. It would seem to me DayTrading would kick Swing butt in that scenario.. since for swing you really need a multi-day trend whereas there is normally one intraday. (ie I find intraday charts pretty tradeable. ) The last few days are a perfect example. I have been up every single day at the close because I correctly read the big move early on an intraday basis.. but every day there is no followthrough say I have not been able to cash in on my swing positions, especially since I am trading options, and need to make up the spread, slippage, etc. Basically, I have been running beautifully recently.. ON A TREADMILL! Thnx. Jason
It really depends on your personality and your trading methods. They are, in many ways, two different worlds. There is no one right or wrong here. However, from my personal experience you would do well to take a lot of Elder's writing to heart, as a similar approach has worked very well for me over the past few years. But if you are impatient, and want to book fractions during the day on small moves, this will not fit your personality. It is a very personal decision, and only experience will tell you where you'll find your best fit.
Jason you raise a very good point which is why I shy away from the swing trade and prefer to position trade with a little daytrading thrown in for fun now and then.
when it comes to the stock market in particular ( exluding all other markets including stock index derivatives ), daytrading is never the optimal strategy for an individual. Even during the late 90's, those daytraders making a bundle would have made much more by being swing or position traders.
the problem is, daytrading is much more entertaining, even thrilling. You get a gambling rush from daytrading that you won't get with any other kind of trading.