Stock Trading and Other Things

what is the difference between day trading and long term trading?

Between day trading and long term trading, which one is the better choice for a begginner with $700 to invest?

Public Comments

1. Day trading is when you bought it today and then sell it to today.
Long term trading is when you bought it today and sell it 10 years from now.

long term and short term but not day trade..

2. here is a rule of thumb. unless you are the lucky .05% of all people who have "the gift", your "luck" or "skill" usually has to do with if the market is going up or not. rising tides lift all boats.

generally, the more you trade the more commissions will eat up your account, and the more margin for mistakes you will have. also, you are usually buying the offer and selling the bid if you are not making a market, and all this adds up with the number of transactions.

i'm not saying you can't do it, but you have a much better chance in long term investing. read "one up on wall street" by peter lynch. you can outperform the market, but be smart and prudent.

if you feel like you are gambling, you probably are. guess what? gamblers almost always die poor, it is an almost certain event. don't take my word for it, research it.

i assure you if it was as easy as it seems nobody would be working for a living. when i was trading 15 years ago, of the five hundred or so guys who were doing it with me, two still do it. two. most of the ones who are still there are - you guessed it - brokers not traders who make commission no matter who wins and loses.

and read Jesse Livermore: Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

trading is a much smarter venture if you are using someone elses money and you get a nice cut of the profits, but only lose your job and not your capital if you lose big.

3. Day Trading is for the highly experianced trader, usually with good skills in Technical Analysis and Money Management. These skills usually take 3-5 years to sharpen.... and many more to be really profitable.

Take $100 of your investment money and buy several books on investing.... It's crazy to just jump into the matket cause ya wana give it a try......... That's gambling.... it's not investing.

4. the difference is merely the length of time you hold the stock or underlying.

most brokers have a minimum amount to open an account, $2,000, fewer with $1,000 and not many with less than that amount.


5. 1. day trading means open and close positions in the same day and long term trading means invest in more that five years.
2. depends on your profile.