Learning curve — swing vs. day trading

[Daniel Ghaly 0]

Hi everyone, glad to be a part of the community! I'm a beginner looking to practice some strategies on DAS Trader's Simulator. I understand I can practice both day and swing trading on the simulator, but I was wondering if I just did swing trading, would the learning curve be a lot slower for me compared to day trading, since I would be making less trades per week and therefore have less learning time for analyzing my trades/seeing what went wrong, etc.? Am I correct in this assessment?

[cjsimon07 16]

I think focusing on the one that best fits your personality and skill set is where to start. For example, if you open a swing position and it goes against you is that going to affect you outside of trading? Personally, I find swing trading harder because if I'm holding a red position I tend to think about it after market hours when I should be focusing on other things. I like that I close out all my trades by the end of the day. Red or Green I can journal, learn, and move on to tomorrow. 

I think it was Peter who recently quoted a book he was reading that said something like "focus on perfecting your strengths instead of your weaknesses." Figure out what you do well and learn to do it better. I think less is more when it comes to trading. What I mean is, focus on one type of trading until you've mastered it, focus on 1 strategy at a time until you've mastered it. Trading doesn't have to be super complicated, you just need to find  what works for you. 

If I could only give one piece of advice , no matter what style or strategies you use, make sure you journal. I've learned more about myself and how I can succeed in trading through my journal than just about anything else.