What is swing trading?
Swing trading is a type of trading style that focuses on profiting off changing trends in price action over relatively short timeframes. Swing traders will try to capture upswings and downswings in stock prices. Positions are typically held for one to six days, although some may last as long as a few weeks if the trade remains profitable. Traders who swing-trade stocks find trading opportunities using a variety of technical indicators to identify patterns, trend direction and potential short-term changes in trend.
Swing trading example
Guide to diagram: A – Trade entry point B – Stop loss C – Price forecast (exit level) D – Fibonacci technical analysis
There are numerous strategies you can use to swing-trade stocks. In this example, we've shown a swing trade based on trading signals produced using a Fibonacci retracement. The three most important points on the chart used in this example include the trade entry point (A), exit level (C) and stop loss (B). Any swing trading system should include these three key elements.
The stop loss level and exit point don't have to remain at a set price level as they will be triggered when a certain technical set-up occurs, and this will depend on the type of swing trading strategy you are using. The estimated timeframe for this stock swing trade is approximately one week. It's important to be aware of the typical timeframe that swing trades unfold over so that you can effectively monitor your trades and maximise the potential for your trades to be profitable.
Five swing trading strategies for stocks
We've summarised five swing trade strategies below that you can use to identify trading opportunities and manage your trades from start to finish. Apply these swing trading techniques to the stocks you're most interested in to look for possible trade entry points. You can also use tools such as CMC Markets' pattern recognition scanner to help you identify stocks that are showing potential technical trading signals.
