Swing Trading
Holding positions for several days to a few weeks to capture a single 'swing' in price — between day trading and long-term investing.
Swing traders aim to catch one leg of a move — a breakout that runs for a week or two, a pullback that resumes — holding through overnight and weekend risk in exchange for not needing to watch the screen all day. It relies on daily charts, patterns, and a defined entry, stop and target.
It's the most accessible active style for people with day jobs: a nightly routine of scanning end-of-day setups is enough. Position sizing and a clear stop matter because positions are exposed to overnight gaps.
On StockSetups
Swing trading is StockSetups' core use case — a nightly scan of ~12,300 stocks sorts setups into four lanes (setting up, breaking out, broke out, retesting), each with an entry, stop and target on the daily chart.
Scan the whole market free →Frequently asked
How long do swing traders hold a stock?
Typically a few days to a few weeks — long enough to capture one price swing, shorter than position trading or investing. The hold ends when the target, stop, or a trend change is hit.
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StockSetups scans ~12,300 US stocks & ETFs after every close and sorts every long setup into four ranked lanes — each with a trade plan — plus an always-on engine firing 35+ real-time intraday alerts. Free for 14 days, cancel in one click.
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