There is no 'best cycle', only the 'cycle that suits you best'
Many people make a mistake in their first step when they start learning trading. They immediately ask:
'Brother Peng, is short-term trading more profitable?'
'Is segment trading more stable?'
'Is long-term holding the most worry-free?'
The result is——
I can't clearly say which one suits me best,
Yet I jump back and forth between three styles every day:
In the morning, I want to be a short-term sniper
At noon, I want to learn how to trade in segments
In the evening, seeing long-term big bull cases, I want to 'hold on for a main upward wave'
The final actual effect is only one:
Unclear style, unstable account.
In today's article, we will thoroughly explain a basic but overlooked question:
Short-term, swing, long-term,
Which one are you really suited for?
What 'kind of personality' are you using to force 'another kind of trading'?
1. First, make a firm statement:
There is no 'best cycle', only 'the most suitable cycle for you'
Short-term, swing, long-term,
Each has its advantages and costs.
Short-term trading is not 'more powerful', it has a denser rhythm and greater pressure
Swing trading is not 'not stimulating enough', but balances efficiency and mindset
Long-term trading is also not 'guaranteed win', it requires extremely high cognition and belief in holding
What you choose is not the one that looks coolest in your social circle,
But the one that you can withstand long-term and execute.
Just like sports:
Some are suited for sprinting (short-distance running)
Some are suited for marathons
Some are suited for interval running
Forcing a marathon runner to run 100 meters,
Most likely won't run faster than a sprinter.
Trading is the same.
2. Short-term: high intensity, high frequency, and also high consumption
Many people are easily fascinated by short-term trading at the beginning:
Many opportunities every day
Profits and losses come quickly
Watching the market feels very much like 'being in battle'
✅ Advantages of short-term trading:
High capital utilization rate
Multiple entries and exits in a day
Can jump in as soon as there is an opportunity
Not so dependent on large trends
In a volatile market, short-term trading can instead eat more
Requirements for 'waiting' are not that high
Suitable for those who can't sit still and like to participate frequently
❌ Costs of short-term trading:
Time costs are extremely high
Long market watching time
Almost always in a highly tense state
High requirements for technical details and market feel
You need to be very sensitive
Look very closely at fluctuations and small-level structures
Also need experience with 'false breakouts' and 'false breakdowns'
Transaction fees + emotional consumption are huge
Big ups and downs within a day
Easily get more and more involved
High-frequency trading, the large chunk of transaction fees you eat up may not be calculable
Mindset fluctuations are fierce:
✅ Who is more suited for short-term trading?
Have a lot of time to watch the market
Quick reactions, decisive execution
Can accept frequent small losses and small mistakes
Willing to spend a lot of energy on technical details and market feel
❌ Who should avoid short-term trading?
Office workers, no time to watch the market
Easily agitated emotionally, prone to getting too involved
Can't sleep if I lose one or two trades in a day
Execution is poor, always 'the plan is here, but the hand points to there'
3. Swing trading: find a balance between efficiency and mindset
Swing trading is roughly the path you most want to take and is most suitable for the vast majority of people:
Look at the direction on 4-hour / daily charts
Find entry points in the 1-hour / 4-hour structure
Hold for several days to several weeks (depending on the size of the swing)
✅ Advantages of swing trading:
No need to watch the market 24 hours
Watch the market at fixed times, adjust at fixed times
Leave a lot of time to learn and review, instead of staring at 5-minute fluctuations
Can catch a decent trend
Don't get tangled up in every little fluctuation
The key is to grasp 'direction + a considerable space'
The win-loss ratio can be made beautiful easily
Place stop loss outside the structure
Look at the entire trend space for take profit
Achieve 'small losses, medium or large gains'
❌ Costs of swing trading:
Need to withstand 'midway noise'
Temporary pullback
False breakout
Small cycle tossing back and forth
During the holding period, you will inevitably encounter:
You must be able to accept:
'Clearly the direction is right, but floating profits will fluctuate repeatedly.'
Need to have a relatively clear trend judgment framework
For example: moving averages, structure, support and resistance, chip accumulation
Otherwise, it's easy to mistake oscillations for trends and trends for oscillations
✅ Who is suitable for swing trading?
Have some free time, but not all day to watch the market
Can accept 'a mid-way floating profit drawdown, as long as the general direction is good'
Willing to spend time studying structure, moving averages, and key price levels on charts
Hope to achieve 'a little less frequency, but every trade is meaningful'
In simple terms:
Don't want to be chased by the market like short-term trading,
While not willing to completely lie flat as a 'stubborn holder'.
4. Long-term trading: it’s not about 'not watching the market', but 'caring more about logic than fluctuations'
What many people call long-term is actually——
Not willing to stop loss + unwilling to admit losses + not wanting to admit mistakes = stubborn holding.
This is not called long-term, this is called 'stuck and unwilling to leave'.
True long-term trading is closer to these states:
Have judgment on the larger direction and cycle
Accept that there will be significant drawdowns in between
What matters more is:
The position of this variety in the entire cycle
Whether the industry, structure, narrative, and main line have changed
✅ Advantages of long-term trading:
Low frequency, decision-making is not anxious
No need to operate every day
Spend more time thinking about 'why hold it'
Easily catch large profits in big trends
If the direction is right and the position is stable
You can catch a very considerable segment in a complete market cycle
Have stronger immunity to 'short-term noise'
Short-term fluctuations have less impact on your decision-making
❌ Costs of long-term trading:
Requires a higher dimension of cognition and judgment ability
It's not something you can decide just by glancing at the K-line
You need to understand the overall environment, cycles, and risks
Psychological endurance needs to be very strong
Others make a killing in short-term trading
You hold onto it, being called a 'wooden person'
A drawdown of 20%, 30%, or even larger, you have to be able to withstand it
Also have to withstand:
What you fear the most is: the logic has long been slapped in the face by the market, yet you keep holding on
No review, no reflection
Beautifying 'stubborn holding' as 'faith in long-term'
✅ Who is suitable for long-term trading?
Have stable income, not relying on trading in the short term to solve life issues
Can accept significant floating losses without easily collapsing
Genuinely willing to spend time learning underlying logic, instead of just looking at price fluctuations
Can achieve 'hold long-term, but not blindly hold'
5. The mistakes you make most often:
Using a short-term mentality to do swing trading;
Using long-term expressions to stubbornly hold short-term pits
Many people's breakdown comes not from 'choosing the wrong style',
but from a complete chaos in style:
Typical mistake 1:
Plan to do swing trading, but in practice, it turns into random short-term trading
Originally planned to hold for a few days
But as soon as there is a bit of floating profit, you rush to run away
Panic as soon as there's a pullback
In the end, after the entire swing market is over, you only eat a few bites in the middle,
And got stopped out several times in the opposite direction
This is called:
'Saying swing trading,
While doing fragmented short-term trades.'
Typical mistake 2:
Clearly a short-term error, yet comforting yourself with 'long-term faith'
Initially just wanted to try short-term trading
But when the direction is wrong, you still don't stop loss
The more you lose along the way, the more unwilling you are, and you start to make excuses for yourself:
'This target definitely has no problem in the long term, I will hold long-term.'
In the end, it turns into:
'Not daring to admit short-term failures, using long-term as an excuse,
Turning a small pit into a deep well.'
6. So how should you choose? Here’s a simple self-assessment form
You can follow the 5 questions below to give yourself a rough positioning:
Your time:
✅ Can watch the market all day → Can consider short-term + swing trading
✅ Can only watch the market at fixed times → Swing trading first
✅ Too busy to leave only fragmented time → Longer cycles are more suitable
Your emotional fluctuations:
✅ If floating profits and losses several times a day drive you crazy → Avoid short-term trading
✅ Can accept repeated fluctuations within a few days → Swing trading is suitable
✅ Indifferent to short-term fluctuations, looking at the big direction → Can gradually try longer cycles
Your current skills and experience:
✅ Just starting out / very shallow skills → Prioritize swing trading + basic structure learning
✅ Already sensitive to the market and rhythm → Can consider short-term trading moderately
✅ Have research on larger cycles and environments → Long-term cycle configurations can gradually be added
Your tolerance for drawdowns:
✅ If losing two or three trades makes you uncomfortable → Control frequency + lower cycle requirements
✅ Can accept a 10%-20% phase drawdown in the account → No problem with swing trading
✅ Can rationally view larger drawdowns → Long-term can be practiced slowly
What problems do you most want to solve right now?
✅ Want to first learn 'don't move around, don't trade frequently, make fewer mistakes' → Swing trading is the optimal solution
✅ Want to move towards professional/full-time trading in the future → Need to master both short-term and swing trading
✅ Want to make trading part of asset allocation → Long-term tone + swing trading optimize positions
You will find:
For the vast majority of trading novices,
'Swing + medium cycles that suit yourself'
It's the best starting way.
So
Short-term trading tests speed, technical details, execution power, and pressure resistance
Swing trading tests understanding of trends, structural judgment, and patience
Long-term trading tests depth of cognition, logic, time, and the mentality of enduring drawdowns
What you fear the most is not which one you choose,
What you fear the most is: saying you want stability, but your hands keep randomly pressing in short-term trading;
Saying long-term, but actually looking for excuses for your 'stubborn holding'.
This set (Trading 101 for Beginners),
is to help you distinguish these 'things that seem similar but are completely different.'
If you're stuck in an awkward state right now:
Doing short-term trading is exhausting, and you still don't make sense of your profits
Swing trading always can't hold on
Want to do long-term but don't know how to select targets, how to hold
Then come find me,
I will combine your time, personality, and financial situation,
Help you set a set of cycles + style combinations suitable for you,
As for how high you can reach in the future,
It depends on how far your execution and discipline can take you.
