I wanted to start a different strategy on trading and I decided to test the water of swing tradings. What kind of tip could you guysrecommend me? What news should I be looking out for and What technical skills should I have? And when is the best time during the market should I buy in?
Swing trading is all about finding that trend and catching the move. Risking X to get X+5 Define your risk, look for the support and cross your finger! LVS for example is back down to the support level in AH trading, if that holds, its possible its a swing, but I dont know how horrible the earnings are looking going forward. @Tiptopptrader has been nailing some great swing trades in his gaming stocks thread, drop by and see what he is up to!
On the old board, @Venom08 posted a graph showing the returns at 15 minute intervals. The best returns were in the last 30 minutes of the day. Another reason for buying at the end of the day, is that you don't get shaken out and end up day-trading. The exception to buying at the end of the day: if the stock falls to support at market open (eg after "bad" earnings) or in the middle of the day (eg volatile market). So you should pick some stocks to stalk, waiting for them to fall to support.
Yes, and watch what happens today. LVS had earnings last night which knocked the stock lower in after hour trading.
So I wouldn't mind understanding this a little better myself. My understanding is that swing trading is different then day trading. In day trading you are attempting to get a hit or miss on the same day using those 15min charts and are in and out of the trade the same day. I thought swing trading was more of a short term 3 to 5 day hold where you find a technical chart setup like a bull flag and using the chart you determine where the resistance is and set a sell order just below target combined with a stop order sitting at support or just below and then let it play out. Yes/No?
For my swing trading II like to play stocks I am familiar with and how they react to the markets and their sector. I can usually spot weakness or stength and watching Level 2 will even give me a better feel in real time. I normally hold my trades anywhere from a couple days to about a week in a half. When they get above the upper bollinger band I put in a sell for at least part of my position. If it is a market rally and I am sitting high above the upper band I will usually sell the whole position and buy it back cheaper later. If I spot weakness I will put in a sell as well, some times with a stop or a quick trigger finger. Back in 09 I would catch LVS and MPEL on a 7 to 8% drop and usually a pop was short coming to take some nice profits. I don't really day trade but once in while if the profit is too big to resist I will make the sell. Catching the trend is another good method but I prefer that more in a less volatile market. I like to play hard ball in tough markets picking up stocks off the bottom for some big swings. I will put in multi bids on different stocks and if I catch one of them it is usually worth while Per example in my Top Picks thread I was playing 10% drops adjusted to support levels with BBD, ELP, and 9% on WPX.
What do you guys look for in a swing candidate? Assume you had no candidates. How would you filter out the 7000 plus stocks to say 50 good candidates?
I use my brokerage account at Merrill to filter through the stocks. I want stocks with good fundamentals and beating the DOW for starters and pick them up on a market pull back, preferably a meltdown when everyone else is selling. But before I buy I go to the charts and see if the swings are big enough to make it worth while. That is what brought me back into the market when I seen blood on the street
