Swing trading

A horizon, not a method. Positions are held from a few days to a few weeks, decisions are typically read from four hour and daily charts, and the number of positions taken is small next to intraday styles. Any entry logic at all can be run at this horizon, which is why the word describes when positions are closed rather than why they were opened.

The horizon changes the cost structure in both directions. Dealing costs are a smaller fraction of the target than they are for a scalp, because the target is larger while the spread and commission are not. In exchange, positions are carried through the daily cut off, so swap accrues each night, weekends are held through so the market can reopen away from where it closed, and scheduled releases and results land inside the holding period rather than being avoided. Stop distances are wider at this horizon, which is what ties the style to position sizing: a wider distance means a smaller size for the same money at risk.

The label is used more confidently than the evidence supports. There is no finding that any holding period is inherently more or less profitable than another, and comparisons between styles usually end up comparing cost structures and exposure to news rather than skill. Where practitioners do agree is narrower and duller: the horizon determines which costs dominate, and that is a matter of arithmetic rather than of opinion.