Is swing trading optimal for my semi-hectic schedule?

[SmokeTreees]

Day trading isn't really possible for me with my work schedule so should I try out swing trading? I think what would work best for me would be to do research on the weekends and find positions to hold for a day or 2, if not longer, throughout the week. I'm not really too familiar with swing trading strategies. What are good parameters to run in a scan to find possible companies/positions? Really any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

Edit: I should add that I can do research at night, and have some internet access throughout the day

 

[tomorton]

Yes, I should say try it. Be prepared for sometimes being a farmer, not a gunslinger. Sometimes you will enter orders and a few days later adjust them and then again a few days later and on and on it goes. But orders are free. Its nice to be waiting for the market to come your way when you're in cash, not in the red.

At present I am firmly a trend-follower and never open trades live, always through orders. Sometimes they take weeks to trigger. My favourite set-up right now is, for a long (reverse these for a short) -
price above 50EMA
50 EMA above 200EMA
price above 200EMA
price up in last month
more than 1 weekly bar not cut by 50EMA

If all 5 are in agreement, you'll usually find you've got an uptrend and I'm usually looking to enter on recovery from a pullback. A nice thing about swing trading is that apart from going long at an all-time high, entries are not the most critical. These criteria are simple, and many others would do as well, but in order to develop what you're doing, you have to know what you've done.

Don't ever forget to enter your stop loss orders immediately you enter your entry orders.

Good luck.

 

[SmokeTreees]

So you're saying you can set up orders, and then will automatically enter when the parameters are met?

 

[tomorton]

So you're saying you can set up orders, and then will automatically enter when the parameters are met?

Yes, though its usually quite crude - i.e. if your target entry price is hit, the order will be executed. The system probably won't be able to distinguish against a spike, it won't take account of changed TA, it probably won't automatically enter a stop-loss if you haven't logged one already. Once an order is in, check to make sure you can edit it to take account of changed circumstances.

If price gaps past your entry order price, it won't be triggered.

With these provisos, it works well - setting orders in advance of the market open demands you have a clear line of thinkng as to what you want to happen and what you want to do about it if it does (and if it goes wrong) so it automatically encourages planning and discipline, while eradicating snap / emotional / hunch trades.

And if you're at work (like me too), how else are you going to get into the game?

 

[SmokeTreees]

I appreciate your reply. Just out of curiosity, what kinda of returns can an experienced swing trader expect. I know this is a hard question to answer but I'm just trying to get an idea. I know a lot of it depends on what kind of market we are in as well.

 

[SmokeTreees]

What do you feel about swing trading penny stocks and small cap stocks for the volatility? Or are mid cap and large cap a better idea? Also, do you plan around earnings and other fundamental news that you think will cause a big move? Thanks in advance.

 

[tomorton]

I appreciate your reply. Just out of curiosity, what kinda of returns can an experienced swing trader expect. I know this is a hard question to answer but I'm just trying to get an idea. I know a lot of it depends on what kind of market we are in as well.

Not hard to answer, impossible to answer. As I'm in the UK I can spreaddbet the markets or use other means to go short as well as long at no disadvantage. So there's little sense in me being not 100% in the market 100% of the time as long as I maintain a balanced commitment to direction. But how quickly I get out and how quickly someone else gets out of the same trade are two very different figures.

 

[tomorton]

What do you feel about swing trading penny stocks and small cap stocks for the volatility? Or are mid cap and large cap a better idea? Also, do you plan around earnings and other fundamental news that you think will cause a big move? Thanks in advance.

The cheapest spreads come with the biggest cap shares, so smaller stuff starts to cost more money. Of course their swings can be bigger but I don't need a 150% move to make money, and there's never a problem with liquidity on the large caps (or forex).

For shares I try to avoid getting in before earnings - but if results prompt a trend continuation signal, that can be a helpful entry. In forex I try to avoid holding the USD across non-farm payrolls and each currency across its own central bank rate decisions.

I ignore the rest of the news and just look to the charts to tell me what it meant. Actually, its hard to ignore news and trust charts, its no easy cop out.

 

[radex78]

I like with swing trading, rather than scalping which required more concentration, although not always have time to mionitoring account all time, but if already put stop loss and taking profit target it's still enjoy

 

[NVP]

Day trading isn't really possible for me with my work schedule so should I try out swing trading? I think what would work best for me would be to do research on the weekends and find positions to hold for a day or 2, if not longer, throughout the week. I'm not really too familiar with swing trading strategies. What are good parameters to run in a scan to find possible companies/positions? Really any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

Edit: I should add that I can do research at night, and have some internet access throughout the day

Anytime is better than no time trading

Just be realistic with your profit expectations ......I used to trade higher tfs because of my consulting schedule ......but in the end I transitioned to,scalping 2hours a day early London session instead of snoozing on longer timeframes

It's all about returns .......a good scalper will always turnover more trades and profits per day then people trading longer TF.s

N