I moved from day trading to swing trading and found little difference in my returns with a lot less stress. Any danger of holding overnight or for longer periods of time is overcome as the market can move violently in both directions. Some you win; some you lose. I trade stocks with little to no leverage.
You claim you’ve been trading for 20yrs but from your posting history on that crappy ES journal, it’s difficult to imagine. The range today was more than enough to trade, both from the long and short side. If you can capture a third of that, who the hell needs to swing trade. Lastly, give the crack pipe a rest and quit listening to those queefs posting As/Of trades on the ES journal thread.
I had a swing trading system that worked pretty good...then 2022 happened. 2022 forced me to reduce my timeframe to the point of basically day trading. Just too much chop. I take consolation in the fact that even some well-known swing traders struggled in 2022.
This is a great point. Fear of loss is such a big driver, that maybe we overlook the positive gap ups.
A hybrid approach I've been testing is 'buy the open, sell the close'.... but it's use is limited to 'out' s&p days only, for best trades... eg days in which s&p is above pd hi or below pd low. Use with charts that are most likely to trend up all day. ... eg small gaps up over pdh, initial stop under premkt low, buy on breakout that hits 9:30-10, walk away and don't close til after 3:30.
Got into CRDO the other day and got stopped out for a huge loss on my call option. Stock gapped down on earnings. I lost a good chunk, 43% of amount put into that trade. No problem. My risk management rules is to not to risk more than 2%. I lost less than 1% of my capital. My other open trades are doing fine. Small losses are not even an issue. It is the large losses that will destroy your capital base and eat up profits you already have earned.
You didn't say whether it was a long or short... nor your entry price. Offhand it's likely you violated "Price TA" entry and/or stop principles. If you provide info on the trade, I'll give you my view along with a chart. A good "swing" play is one that gets off to a good start (crucial) and you're able to hold it for a swing-type gain. Does not mean "take a much bigger risk because it's a swing play". (Personally, I would NEVER have a 60-point risk on an ES trade.. other than getting blindsided that is.)