Yo guys, I haven’t got that much experience with trading. However, I am a day trader. I got a system that works; I’m improving it day by day. Right now, it’s the only thing that’s not boring me.
So I am an accounting and finance student who currently just goes to uni, goes home, goes to the gym, eats, does some work, sees my girlfriend, and I’ve found life just a bit repetitive after the whole clubbing/partying phase came to an end. Fuck knows how I got into trading; however, I figured out a way to have a balanced life and find the time to trade that could fit into my schedule. Just thinking about the future, what if, because of my job, I wasn’t able to trade during the NY session? (If anything confuses you guys, I am from the UK, and NY session opens around 1:30 PM for me, taking me around 30m to 1h to analyze and find an entry, then I’m done.)
If anyone is in the same stage and having the same thoughts as I am, let me know what’s holding you back. If anyone has gone through this, how was the change in your lifestyle, and was it better or worse? What were the changes?
If anyone had to go from swing to day trading, what was the reasoning, and how did you feel about it?
I switched from day trading to swing trading a year ago; best trading decision ever for me. I don’t regret having spent 4 years day trading, but after you get to a certain point, it’s really unnecessary to spend all your time every day on it.
I used to spend 2-3 hours per day at least on trading (including daily trade journaling). Now I spend 2-3 hours per week, also including journaling time. It’s just so much better for me, less stressful, and gives me more free time. Plus, it improves my performance because I’m less likely to cave into emotional impulsiveness, which is easy to do when you’re day trading.
I feel like many traders, once they get enough years under their belt, typically drift towards swing trading because it accomplishes the same goal but with way less work, and allows you to do other things with your life.
@Ray
That’s really interesting to hear! My outlook on it is that after I get a job after uni (hopefully), I see myself working long office hours, as accountants may do. Even if that isn’t the case, there’s still a high chance that I might work during my normal trading hours. I’m in contact with a few swing traders, and they say as a ‘father’ or a ‘busy person who’s working,’ it’s better. However, that is only 2 opinions.
I also considered the fact that if there were many people that instead went from swing to day trading because they hated swing trading, I’d just stop altogether if it might not work in the future, as I don’t see trading as my main source of income.
@Nash
Yeah. Day trading can help when learning because it makes lessons more intense and gives you more opportunities, which gets you through a lot of stuff faster. But in terms of which is more sustainable, profitable, and flexible long term, especially once you already know how to trade and have been through enough, swing trading is usually best.
Of course, you don’t have to be exclusively one or the other. You can do some day trading when you can and swing trading the rest of the time. Stuff like that.
Some people don’t like swing trading, so of course you’ll have to see how you feel about it. I thought I wouldn’t like it, but it turns out I was very wrong lol.
If swing trading involves closing trades on the same day (depending on the situation), then I might be doing that. It involves less stress overall.
I am using the M15, but the trades can be closed on the same day or even open for a few days. Overall, you might need to have higher drawdown at times.
@Donovan
I don’t know a whole lot about swing trading, however I think that’s day trading as that’s what my strategy sounds like, and I class myself as a day trader. Just yesterday my trade took 25 hours to execute; however, I didn’t expect it to go for that long .
Donovan said: @Nash
Ahh. Then it’s day trading. I called it day-swing trading .
Frick, hope it wouldn’t come to this. Seems I have become the very thing I was fearing. I thought I had more time. Dammit, I don’t even have my dream job yet, fuck .
Sounds like I might be. I found with day trading I found direction too hard to predict; felt too random. I also found it stressful waiting for London and NY to open, then trading in those hours with the disappointment that came with not finding a setup in that period. I mainly use the 1-day chart now; my setups reveal themselves over days instead of minutes, and I find the opening hours to be pleasant and casual instead of intense and stressful. I’m also starting to see small gains and more of my trades work out, whereas with day trading it was a sea of red with the odd tiny green island. Had to work on my patience a bit, but that’s the only negative I’ve found, if any.
Still got a way to go as I’ve only been on this particular trading train for 3-4 months, but I’ve got something now I actually feel I can shape into a winning strategy (I’ve been working around a crossing of the 21MA, combined with some basic price action). I’ll work my way back to day trading at some point, probably day trading alongside my longer-term swing trades that have momentum; but for now I’m really happy working on this. Good luck!
@Hayden
I totally understand your day trading position. It does seem like most of the time the answer seems to be less stressful and more wins which is a plus .
My strategy seems to be going good for now, 60% win rate, but trades are normally a 1-3 R/R. However, I found a way to improve it and I’m gonna go back to the backtesting phase because better is better than good .
Hayden said: @Nash
Don’t, I need to backtest at some point! I’m so lazy! .
Yeah, I’m fairly new, so I got all the time to backtest; they say it takes people 2-3 years to be profitable. Why can’t I be profitable in 6 months and even more profitable in 6 months after? .
@Nash
You can, and you seem to be on the right path for it. Dropping to the D1 was a big move for me, and if I’d done it 6 months ago, I might be properly profitable by now, and I’m only a year and a half in. With the fact you’re backtesting your strategy, which is completely essential for confidence in your strategy (which is a huge part of your psychology), means you may be there much quicker than the 2-3 years (which looks like the time period I’m looking at now).
Another thing is I found day trading a lot more addictive, so it was hard to move on. The excitement of the opening bells is incomparable, and landing trades in minutes and hours (i.e., going on the entire journey) instead of days and weeks makes more sense to the human brain, I think, too.
I found that placing sell/buy orders yields more profit than going in with market orders. Usually, the price just hits where I wanted it to go but only for a few seconds/minutes anyways, call it ‘stop loss hunting’ or ‘liquidity sweep’ or whatever, but that’s what my strategy is—placing most of my orders where the ‘usual’ stops are, and it’s just much better waiting as a swing trader than looking at the screen all times of the day.
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