Should I Day-Trade ETFs? Probably Not.

-
The great majority of ETFs are not designed for day-trading. I like to use them for longer-term trades (months to years), especially ones that pay monthly distributions.
There are some leveraged ETFs that I’ve used for shorter term trades (hours to days). I still don’t view these as specific day trades, which I define as trades that are never held from session to session; for example, the NYSE closes at 3 pm CDT, so all positions must be closed before that time.
For example, you could use SPXL and SPXS to trade the S&P 500. These ETFs are leveraged 3X the overall market. For example, if the S&P 500 increases by 1 point, SPXL should increase by 3 points. Generally, these two ETFs track the market very well.
There are other leveraged ETFs for almost any asset class; for example, OILU for a bullish 3X Crude Oil trade.
If I’m going to actually day-trade an asset, I’ll trade the futures market, which is highly leveraged and highly volatile. I would not suggest you trade in this market unless you’ve gotten some professional training first. It’s very easy to lose a lot of money in a very short time if you don’t know what you’re doing.
My best gains have come from looking at longer-term trading, such as days to weeks or months. For example, I recently traded CAT, buying at 115 and selling at 128 for an 11.3 percent gain. I was in the trade for three weeks.
I also did a recent trade in energy, using the following ETFs: ACES, FENY, TAN, XES, and XOP. I invested $5,000 in each one and used trailing stops to manage my risk. I was eventually stopped out between 2 and 4 weeks in each position for a total profit of $1,345. While that may seem small at only 5.3%, if you do that once a month, you’ve made a 60 percent gain.
I use two methods to gauge where and when I’ll enter a trade: 13–34 Moving Average crossovers and Fibonacci Retracements and Extensions. (Google these terms for in-depth coverage, or watch the following two videos for an introduction:




Be careful. Learn all you can. Practice with “fake” money before you invest. Have a plan and stick to it. Learn risk management. Use stops. Always. Have fun.
Happy investing.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Hidden Agenda Behind the Global Warming Hysteria

-
Image
Climate change activists are not just interested in reducing carbon emissions in order to "save the planet." Their underlying desire is to overturn capitalism and replace it with socialist governments worldwide.  Our story starts with the IPCC, or the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a U.N. organization. "And any settlement of the Global Warming issue by the UN would entail massive transfers of wealth from the citizens of wealthy countries to the politicians and bureaucrats of the poorer countries." (1) In 1992, at the first U.N. Earth Climate Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Program Executive Director Maurice Strong stated, very candidly:  " We may get to the point where the only way of saving the world will be for industrialized civilization to collapse. Isn’t it our responsibility to bring this about?" (2) Former U.S. Senator Timothy Wirth (D-CO), then representing the Clinton Administration as U.S. undersecretary of state for global
Read more

One more time: The difference between rich and poor

-
Image
There are numerous posts on this blog, and millions on other blogs and news sites, on the subject of what the rich do different, but it's worth repeating again, I guess. The principles are simple. Still, some two-thirds of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. For many, the act of using all of your monthly income to cover your monthly expenses — with no money left over and none for savings — is a fact of life. Look, I've been there. It can be a mindset, and a trap. Best to get out of it if you're in it, as fast as possible.  Depending on the survey, the percentage of people living paycheck to paycheck runs from half of workers making under $50,000 (according to Nielsen data ) to 74% of all employees (per recent reports from both the American Payroll Association and the National Endowment for Financial Education.) And almost three in 10 adults have no emergency savings at all, according to Bankrate’s latest Financial Security Index . Even many in the upper class are seeing t
Read more

This Pattern is Another Warning Sign

-
Image
High-yield bonds are sending the stock market a warning sign. This is not a prediction, but a leading indicator. Just because it's happened in the past, doesn't mean it will happen in the future. Yes, the S&P 500 made a new all-time highs on Wednesday and Friday. Yes, the Fed’s easy money policy is helping to boost stock prices. Yes, President Trump wants a higher stock market. And yes, we are entering a seasonally bullish period for stocks. And, if high-yield bonds were making new highs along with stocks this week, then I’d have to wipe the bearish egg off my face and concede that the stock market isn’t in as much trouble as I thought. The action in high-yield bonds tends to precede the action in the stock market by anywhere from two days to two weeks. So, it’s notable that while the S&P was posting a new all-time high on Wednesday, junk bonds were falling (see down arrow on chart below). And, by the look of the following chart of the iShares iBoxx High Yield C
Read more