Buy and Sell

Uriziel

Is it possible in theory to buy and sell a stock every day?
There are stocks that are volatile and go up and down daily. Would it be possible to buy the stock at a low, then sell it when it goes up by for example 2%. Then sell it for the 2% gain and buy it once it goes down and repeat? That way you could make a 2% gain on a daily basis.

Mistermeaner

Yes it’s possible . This is called day trading 

trouble is knowing which are going up and which down, having enough skin in the game to make minor % gains worthwhile in £ terms and also having a platform that allows such quick trading (most are t+x )

theres a saying that you are better having time in the market than trying to time the market - ie over the long term holding a balanced portfolio of global shares will beat any active trading strategy 

im no expert but I’ve become a millionaire at age 46 by just buying and holding global funds each month for around 15 years 

masonic

You can buy and sell every few minutes if you wanted. In theory, high frequency trading can make you millions.

In practice, the vast majority of people who try stuff like this lose money.

InvesterJones

Mistermeaner said:

im no expert but I’ve become a millionaire at age 46 by just buying and holding global funds each month for around 15 years 

The success of that statement kind of depends what you started with/input though If you're putting in £2700 a month then you 'only' need 10% annualised return to hit a million in 15 years.

(Also reminds me of the formula 1 joke: how do you make a small fortune in formula 1? Start with a large fortune)

But I completely agree with the sentiment - the risk adjusted return of your approach is good. Day trading however has some horrendous statistics about likelihood of making a loss.

Eyeful

What you propose is called "trading" or "speculating" it is extremely high risk.
The odds of you winning that games are very, very low!

Remember:

1. You will be competing against very fast computers, that have been programmed to do this.

2. You will have buying & selling costs with every trade.

3. Brokers you see advertise as having "no charges", simply claw back the charges in a hidden way.
    If they did not charge in someway or other, they would quickly be out business. 

4. There is no such thing as a "free lunch" someone has to pay for it.
A business will make sure its not going to be them but you!

QrizB

masonic said:

In practice, the vast majority of people who try stuff like this lose money.

And:

InvesterJones said:

But I completely agree with the sentiment - the risk adjusted return of your approach is good. Day trading however has some horrendous statistics about likelihood of making a loss.

As an example, here's a small-print statement from the bottom of Trading 212's page on CFDs:

71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

Everyone likes to think they're going to be one of the other 29% ...

HedgehogRulez

Tbh it’s not a bad idea. If I had a spare grand or two I’d defo try my luck!

Bostonerimus1

Uriziel said:

Is it possible in theory to buy and sell a stock every day?
There are stocks that are volatile and go up and down daily. Would it be possible to buy the stock at a low, then sell it when it goes up by for example 2%. Then sell it for the 2% gain and buy it once it goes down and repeat? That way you could make a 2% gain on a daily basis.

This way lies madness

Bostonerimus1

HedgehogRulez said:

Tbh it’s not a bad idea. If I had a spare grand or two I’d defo try my luck!

First thing that comes to mind "one born every minute".

SH88SH88

Uriziel said:

Is it possible in theory to buy and sell a stock every day?
There are stocks that are volatile and go up and down daily. Would it be possible to buy the stock at a low, then sell it when it goes up by for example 2%. Then sell it for the 2% gain and buy it once it goes down and repeat? That way you could make a 2% gain on a daily basis.

Check out a character called Michael Taylor,  he writes a Monthly column in the Investors Chronicle. He readily admits to being a Trader (as opposed to an Investor), however he covers both long and short trading, plus references to Charting etc etc. I believe he has a website,  part of which is probably free and part subscription. 

Middle_of_the_Road

Bostonerimus1 said:

HedgehogRulez said:

Tbh it’s not a bad idea. If I had a spare grand or two I’d defo try my luck!

First thing that comes to mind "one born every minute".

Deffo... 🙂