Trading vs Investing

[juanbyte]

Have we had a pole to see how many members are investors and how many are daytraders.

Today the Dow closed down .06%, so a long term buy and hold investor would be flat/ slight loss.

By daytrading and taking advantage of the intra-day swings I am up $300 and no overnight positions to worry about.

My longest trade was 9 minutes.

I really do not understand investors and would love someone to explain the advantages.

Which is best, safest, most profitable. It would be good to come to a decision to point newbies in the right direction and give them the best advice.

 

[Trader333]

Position trading requires a lot less time and many people just dont want to sit in front of a screen all day. You can also be a position trader quite easily on a part time basis which is much harder for the day-trader.

Safest in my view is daytrading because you will always end the day flat unless you use a market neutral strategy in which case overnight positions would be less of a concern. The longer the time frame the more benefit there is from using a SB company and then you have the tax advantage as well.

It is each to their own as there are just as many failed daytraders as there are longer term as well. To argue which is best is not comparing like with like as it is a very different way of trading. I know of more daytraders who have given up and become position traders than the other way round. Most of them said they just couldnt handle the stress associated with day-trading which they didnt feel for longer term trading.


Paul

 

[juanbyte]

Good post Paul

I have never traded long term so you have enlightened me once again. I leave the long term trades to my pension company.

I think someone new to trading needs to decide how much time they can/want to spend trading before they start and which path they want to go down.

Yes there is not just one way to trade.

The first steps thread is very good but did not address the issue of what type of trader you are.

More money can be made daytrading but it depends on the individuals goals.

Not sure I agree with the statement that daytrading is less stressful, the market still moves the same whether day or position trading.

 

[Trader333]

Not sure I agree with the statement that daytrading is less stressful, the market still moves the same whether day or position trading.

Yes I take your point although it wasnt me saying this as I am a day-trader, it was said by several people who gave up day-trading to become position traders and were happier in doing so.


Paul

 

[grubs50]

Personally, i think day-trading is riskier hence more stressful than other forms of trading. I swing trade indices using SB companies........a lot of my trades r closed within a day or two depending on whether my profit target has been hit or not . I don't like the idea of taking a loss purely on time constraints which seems to be prevalent in day-trading but i accept the fact one man's meat is another man's poison so it's best to trade whichever way one feels comfortable with.

 

[goldfish]

I tend to day and swing trade, I finished Uni 2 years ago and started testing the waters - I'm now a college lecturer and also use the SB's to swing trade during the term time and daytrade during the summer (what a great holiday that is!), but would never use the SB's to daytrade as the bias can be really unpredictable.

The time constraints are the reason I (and I suppose many other traders) tend to swing or invest rather than daytrade.

 

[Vaco]

Many people find day trading more stressful cause most people are not successful traders full stop. How does this make day trading more stressful to these people. well I believe its the speed at which they see themselves losing their money with day trading, its like consolidating 4 months of position trading into a week, that will really do some peoples heads in especially with the added headache that they are probably not working full time in order to day trade!!

But hey i could be and probably am completely wrong as most people would never admit that they consistently lose money, that they consistently fail, anyway who am I to discuss other peoples demons when I'm still struggling with my own