Day Trading For Dummies, 4th Edition

Chapter 11

Day Trading for Investors

IN THIS CHAPTER

Developing the trader’s discipline

Marking market momentum

Seeing when trading strategies are the best move

It takes a special person to be a day trader — one who has quick reflexes, a strong stomach, and a short-term perspective on the markets. Not everyone’s meant to parcel out his or her workday a minute at a time. Most people do better with a long-term perspective on their finances, looking to match their investments with their goals and thinking about their investment performance over months or years rather than right now.

But patient long-term investors can discover a thing or two from the frenetic day trader, which is what this chapter is all about. Many day trading techniques can help swing traders, position traders, and investors — people who hold positions for days, months, or even decades — improve their returns and make smarter decisions when it comes time to buy or sell. In this chapter, I cover some trading and analysis techniques used by day traders that can help longer-term investors improve their returns. Then I discuss some ways that long-term investors may want to add day trading to their list of tricks as ...