Online Stock Trading Styles

Online stock trades are done in lot of trading styles, classified mainly according to the buying and selling interval and schemes/methods used for trading stocks. Although there are many other classifications available we here will concentrate on the two above.

According to the time taken by a trader to complete a trade, that is time interval between buying and selling of a stock, online stock trading is divided in to two broad categories as short-term trading and long-term investing. Usually if the time period required for completing a trade is under a year, then the trading style is called short-term trading. If it exceeds a year then it is called long-term trading. Almost all active online stock traders you see around a stock exchange are short-term traders, trading mostly according to the merit of shares and can be industry specific. Long-term investors are usually large financial firms or financially sound investors, want to own shares of growing companies.

Online short-term stock trading style can be further divided in to 3 large trading styles as online day trading, online swing trading and online swing trading. Online stock day trading is the most active stock trading style. Day traders complete a trade within minutes or hours for very small capital gains per share according to small fluctuations in stock price level. At the end of the day stock day traders will be free from liability as they do not hold any stock in their hands; that’s how they avoid over-night risks. There are two types of online stock day traders as scalpers and momentum traders. Scalpers are most active traders trading large number of stocks within seconds or minutes for very small gains. Momentum traders trade according to the stock price trends changes with in a day.

Online stock swing trading resembles online day trading; but here the traders are willing to take over-night risks. The trading interval between buying and selling of stocks can range from few hours to 3 or 4 days. They are like momentum traders, trade according to the trends in stock prices. Online stock swing trading can offer more gain per share than day trading but have slightly more risks.

In online stock position trading, the time range between buying and selling of stocks goes more widely, from few hours to week or months. Position traders are always keen to search for higher price levels offering higher profits for them. They may be company or industry specific and follows long-term trends in stocks prices. Online stock position trading can offer more profit than online day trading and online swing trading, but also involve higher amount of risks.

According to the method or scheme followed for trading stocks, online stock trading can be divided in to many trading styles like Brother-in-law style of stock trading in which traders trade stocks according to the advice driven from brokers or experienced traders, Technical stock trading style in which a trader use advanced stock charting and picking tools to find out suitable stocks for trading, Economist stock trading style in which traders trade stocks according to economic predictions by surveys and other companies, Scuttlebutt stock trading style in which trades trade according to information extracted from news sources or brokers, Value stock trading style in which traders trade according to the merit of shares irrespective of the market condition, and Conscious stock trading style in which a trader either does not follows any proper trading style or follows combination of 2 or more of above styles.