It seems to me, the vast majority of interest in online forums is with traders. Investors don't seem to care about what anyone else is doing. To be honest, I don't. By "investor", I mean someone who defines investment as buying a stock with the intention of holding it for 5+ years because you believe in the company and want to own it. To an investor, trading stocks is not investing. At the most, buying a stock could be considered investing by some. Selling is definitely divesting.
Yes, lots of investors, but there is nothing wrong with keeping a small amount for speculation and not die of boredom with your indexed mutual fund.
I second what @StockJock-e said. Many of us are both traders AND investors. I would say one shouldn't look down on the other as they both can learn from each other. This forum is actually quite good for serving both communities!
I agree, the majority of people on this forum and others are more swing traders (hold for a few days to a few weeks) in most cases. There are a few here that are long-term holders like you are mentioning as well. I'm only 29 so I am more actively trading and taking more risks, as the younger you are the more risk you should take to try to grow your capital. I enjoy reading responses from those who are long-term investors as well though so I can understand the long-term sentiments I'm trading on top of. I have seen people on these forums post about holding for a few years, and give reasons why. There's nothing wrong with doing both. The older you are though (in general), the less risk you should take on in my opinion. I'd be something like 80% short-term, 20% long-term at my age, and work towards flipping that ratio as I get older.
I'm 51, so I'm plenty old and I still take significant risks. In fact, I take more risks than I did when I was younger. That's not to say I feel it's the right thing to do... And, gentlemen, please notice I did not write anything derogatory about traders. Thank you for the comments. It's great to read the ideas of others.
Hate seems a bit strong. It would be more accurate to say I liken day traders long term thinking prowess to a day care operator getting a tribal face tattoo.
Yes. I understand. Thank you, sulfur scented wind. You're good people. I was trying to fit in. This forum seems to have a good group of folks. For what it's worth, I have short term traded stocks, even recently. I would only do it under certain circumstances and only with stocks I want to hold long term, anyway. That way, if I buy and they go down, I just hold them and wait for my cash reserves to replenish.
I do both short term trading and long term investing too. I am holding those long term investments unless I no longer like the company or I am pretty sure that a bear market is coming really soon
I am more of a strategic thinker and prefer longer term holding. Funny I position trade and jump in and out and back in which represents trading...but I am investing! Ranking momentum in carefully chosen stocks that have a reasonable value with a long enough track record and trying to position ones self in the movement can still be investing...? no ? Developing a style is like discovering a good fitting shoe...I am a TradeVestor.