Hi All, Just some random musings I was having about why I think I am going wrong with my trading / spreadbetting.
The key driver my BAD trading currently is that markets are volatile so I am trying to trade a lot. Quite often when I don't see very strong technical patterns and much more of a momentum "punt" type trade based on my view of sentiment and any news I might see coming up on my various news feeds. Nothing unoriginal there then.
I do find however that actually I am trying to day trade when in fact I have normally and only ever been a swing trader. I spend most of my time licking wounds over multiple small losses day in day out as I continually get stopped out. Even after adjusting my positions to account for volatility with risk:reward of often 1:1 or less (I know, terrible, terrible trading!!) plus ensuring I was well hidden behind good solid support / resistance I still made losses and found myself in a situation of halting trading completely.
As more of a spreadbetter than a trader as well I find myself in a position where I can't actually daytrade even if I wanted to - purely because the spreads are far too wide even with the most competitive dealers and i am normally jumping on the end of a breakout and losing commissions as well as my pre-determined risk:reward.
Do you think with the same investment over a one month period you can make more swing trading than day trading? This is the question I am curious to know the answer to. I have a proper trading account, thinkorswim, which I have yet to use given that the account currency is usd and it means I would have to generate at least 25pc return just to see my money back on the currency itself given the low GBP:USD rate. But I want to get involved further in day trading and it seems leveraged direct market access is the answer to pick up nice small profits throughout the day just trading normal technicals. Just curious to those who made the hop this way and any thoughts on it and whether just sticking to swing trading is best for me, just waiting for the VIX to lower?
The key driver my BAD trading currently is that markets are volatile so I am trying to trade a lot. Quite often when I don't see very strong technical patterns and much more of a momentum "punt" type trade based on my view of sentiment and any news I might see coming up on my various news feeds. Nothing unoriginal there then.
I do find however that actually I am trying to day trade when in fact I have normally and only ever been a swing trader. I spend most of my time licking wounds over multiple small losses day in day out as I continually get stopped out. Even after adjusting my positions to account for volatility with risk:reward of often 1:1 or less (I know, terrible, terrible trading!!) plus ensuring I was well hidden behind good solid support / resistance I still made losses and found myself in a situation of halting trading completely.
As more of a spreadbetter than a trader as well I find myself in a position where I can't actually daytrade even if I wanted to - purely because the spreads are far too wide even with the most competitive dealers and i am normally jumping on the end of a breakout and losing commissions as well as my pre-determined risk:reward.
Do you think with the same investment over a one month period you can make more swing trading than day trading? This is the question I am curious to know the answer to. I have a proper trading account, thinkorswim, which I have yet to use given that the account currency is usd and it means I would have to generate at least 25pc return just to see my money back on the currency itself given the low GBP:USD rate. But I want to get involved further in day trading and it seems leveraged direct market access is the answer to pick up nice small profits throughout the day just trading normal technicals. Just curious to those who made the hop this way and any thoughts on it and whether just sticking to swing trading is best for me, just waiting for the VIX to lower?
