Swing Trading Playbook

A step-by-step approach to trades lasting days to weeks.

1. What Swing Trading Is — Swing trading aims to catch one move in a trend, usually over a few days to a few weeks. Here is what that looks like, and how it differs from investing and day trading.
2. Building a Swing Watchlist — Good swing trades start with a short list of strong stocks that are close to a buy point. Here is a simple funnel for building that list each week.
3. Pullback Entries — Buying a strong stock after a short dip toward a rising moving average is one of the classic swing setups. Here is a real example, step by step, with the numbers.
4. Breakout Entries — A breakout entry buys a stock as it clears a well-formed base or tight range on strong volume. Here is how swing traders plan one, and how they handle failed breakouts.
5. Managing an Open Swing Trade — The entry is only the start. Here is how swing traders move stops, take partial profits and decide when to exit, using simple R-multiple rules.
6. Reviewing Your Swing Results — Your trade history tells you what is working. Here is how to measure win rate, average win and loss in R, and expectancy, and how to use them to improve.