# Which timeframe do you find preferable - Short/Intermediate/Long Term?



## lesm (17 September 2006)

With some of the recent discussions on trading period, taking into account factors, such as tax, thought it might be interesting to see which preference a poll turns up.

Using the definitions below, grouping 1) and 2) together under short term trading, indicate your preference:

1) Intra-day trading , up to 2 day hold
2) Short term trading 2-7 day hold
3) Intermediate term 7-20 day hold 
4) long term 20 day to six months or more

A similar poll is being run on another forum, which has a higher % membership of professional and futures traders, so it will be interesting to see how the results pan out on ASF.

Cheers.


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## Joe Blow (17 September 2006)

Hi Les, I've moved this thread to 'Trading Strategies/Systems' as I think it works better there.


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## lesm (17 September 2006)

Thanks Joe, much appreciated


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## Bobby (17 September 2006)

Hello Lesm,

Although I do trade some long term, my preference is now for very short time frames.

Bob.


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## Julia (17 September 2006)

Hi Lesm

Definitely long term for me, but the occasional short term if the opportunity occurs.

Julia


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## tech/a (18 September 2006)

I'm with Julia.


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## coyotte (18 September 2006)

All depends on the type of trade in question

But the Lower % wise the planed target , the greater the $$$ value must be , so for relitivly  large amounts  , intraday with a new postion on a daily basis --- incase of a overnight gap , against the position.

Never forget GYM , woke up one christmas morning to find out the whole position GONE !

Cheers


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## tech/a (18 September 2006)

> But the Lower % wise the planed target , the greater the $$$ value must be , so for relitivly large amounts , intraday with a new postion on a daily basis




Interesting view.

What do you call relatively large amounts?


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## coyotte (18 September 2006)

Tech/A

most trades I do fall within the 2% boundry.

Eg: 2% per $10,000 of total trading capital = $200 .

So the predetermined STOP  for the initial entery must be prior to this.

On top of this I use a Max Position Size of 20% of T/Cap
This gives you upto 5 standard Open positions at any one time

depending on the reliabity of the method being applied and volitility of the the stock being traded , most times the amount at risk will be below this.

eg: may be a 2% to 4% Stop , but only on 10% of T/Cap-- 1/2 a standard position

But if trading a major , with low volitility and with a reliable method eg: rising triangles then with that stock I go upto 3 standard positions

Last week I was SHORT MBL , treated this as a 3 postions trade ---- but closed the position each day and reopened the next 


done quite well out it --- bit of fruit for the sideboard 



Cheers


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## lesm (18 September 2006)

Like a number of areas of trading there is not necessarily a hard and fast answer, as people need to find their comfort zone and what works best or most reliably for them.

I selected the Intermediate term, as my preferred approach.

When I initially started trading my preference was for long-term but similar to bobby, moved to shorter time-frames and the results over the years have supported the move to shorter time frames. With some longer term trades thrown in.

As coyotte mentioned it can also depend on the type of trade, by understanding this we can determine what our going-in position is in terms of a particular trade and how we intend to trade it. Flexibility in trading the market enables responding to market conditions in the most appropriate/effective manner.

From developing shorter term systems it became apparent there is still the need to let profits run rather than just using approaches, such as time-based or target based exits. This can turn individual short-term trades into intermediate or longer term trades.

Cheers.


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## Knobby22 (18 September 2006)

Very interesting results.
Not what I expected!


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## lesm (24 September 2006)

Just thought I would bump this to see if we coudln't get a few more people to vote before closing it.

With the number of members on ASF, it would be good to see more people participate in the polls.

Many thanks to those who have participated so far.

On the other forum that this poll is based on, they only divided the poll categories into two selections short-/long- term trading.

At this point in time, its poll results to date has been:
Short-term 64.4%
Long-term  35.6%

Cheers.


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## tech/a (24 September 2006)

lesm said:
			
		

> With the number of members on ASF, it would be good to see more people participate in the polls.




Wonder if this refelects those who are active in the market who are members here?


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## It's Snake Pliskin (24 September 2006)

tech/a said:
			
		

> Wonder if this refelects those who are active in the market who are members here?




LESM,

Sorry, I don`t like the poll becuase it isn`t to my thinking. I look at opportunity not a preferred time frame. I could hold for a very long time or intraday.

Snake


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## brerwallabi (24 September 2006)

Ideally I would prefer to hold 12 months and minimise some tax but quite often it is not possible.
Take the current market and reflect back to April/May, I was holding a considerable amount of resources then. My descision was to reduce my holdings and turn to cash which was correct, if I held I would have suffered some losses which by now would be somwhat reduced if I had continued to hold. 
Eventually I think all that I held will return to the early year highs, so nett profit will still be there.
My thinking is always take a profit while its there, the market will always continue to rise - always, history tells us this.
Profit it is only profit when you have money in your hand.
Each to his own, trade to your plan and your chances of nett success will be better.


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## lesm (24 September 2006)

Snake Pliskin said:
			
		

> Sorry, I don`t like the poll becuase it isn`t to my thinking. I look at opportunity not a preferred time frame. I could hold for a very long time or intraday.




Snake,

No problems, good to have you drop into the thread. The feedback gives us another way of better identifying/defining how people trade, as there are probably a quite few opportunistic traders around.

I would have liked to have seen more responses to your poll as well, which is why I used the plural polls.

Cheers


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## cuttlefish (24 September 2006)

Most of my trading/investing tends to resolve predominately around fundamentals and value based approach while keeping an eye on the technical.  For me the timeframes depend on the situation - it depends what signals (fundamental or technical) come along and when - but I'll tie the events to my underlying criteria and decide to sell or buy based on that.   

I've been experimenting with trading more lately and some of my timeframes have been getting shorter as a result but I'm leaning back towards longer term timeframesn(> 1 month) for most situations.  I think in a hyped market you can do well in short term timeframes - there's a lot of euphoria and short term price spikes that can be taken advantage of as well as high volumes required for intraday trading etc.  Which is different to a flat market where you have to do your homework more carefully - so the point in the market cycle would effect my approach as well.


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