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September 2012
97% of people found this answer helpful
Investing and trading are two very different methods of attempting to profit in the financial markets. The goal of investing is to gradually build wealth over an extended period of time through the buying and holding of a portfolio of stocks, baskets of stocks, mutual funds, bonds and other investment instruments. Investors often enhance their profits through compounding, or reinvesting any profits and dividends into additional shares of stock. Investments are often held for a period of years, or even decades, taking advantage of perks like interest, dividends and stock splits along the way. While markets inevitably fluctuate, investors will "ride out" the downtrends with the expectation that prices will rebound and any losses will eventually be recovered. Investors are typically more concerned with market fundamentals, such as price/earnings ratios and management forecasts.
Trading, on the other hand, involves the more frequent buying and selling of stock, commodities, currency pairs or other instruments, with the goal of generating returns that outperform buy-and-hold investing. While investors may be content with a 10 to 15% annual return, traders might seek a 10% return each month. Trading profits are generated through buying at a lower price and selling at a higher price within a relatively short period of time. The reverse is also true: trading profits are made by selling at a higher price and buying to cover at a lower price (known as "selling short") to profit in falling markets. Where buy-and-hold investors wait out less profitable positions, traders must make profits (or take losses) within a specified period of time, and often use a protective stop loss order to automatically close out losing positions at a predetermined price level. Traders often employ technical analysis tools, such as moving averages and stochastic oscillators, to find high-probability trading setups.
A trader's "style" refers to the timeframe or holding period in which stocks, commodities or other trading instruments are bought and sold. Traders generally fall into one of four categories:
- Position Trader – positions are held from months to years
- Swing Trader – positions are held from days to weeks
- Day Trader – positions are held throughout the day only with no overnight positions
- Scalp Trader – positions are held for seconds to minutes with no overnight positions
Traders often choose their trading style based on factors including: account size, amount of time that can be dedicated to trading, level of trading experience, personality and risk tolerance. Both investors and traders seek profits through market participation. In general, investors seek larger returns over an extended period through buying and holding. Traders, by contrast, take advantage of both rising and falling markets to enter and exit positions over a shorter timeframe, taking smaller, more frequent profits.
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September 2016
73% of people found this answer helpful
Both terms could actually be defined very broadly, and I am sure financial professionals could come up with many differences between the two. Here are the basics in my view.
Investing is the act of owning something, it could be an individual stock, a mutual fund, a property, or anything else you feel has less value today than you think it will in the future. Trading is the actual transaction that occurs when you buy or sell investments. If you are an investor, typically it means you are a person who is holding on to something for the purpose of earning a profit when the value increases. If you are a trader, then you are the person creating transactions. You are buying or selling the investments for yourself or others. Traders could be viewed as attempting to take advantage of short term market swings, while investors could be said to take a more long term approach.
Hope that defines it for you. Happy investing. . .or should I say trading? Your choice.
Wyatt A. Moerdyk, AIF®
Managing Member
Chief Compliance Officer
Accredited Investment Fiduciary®
10004 Johns Road
Boerne, TX 78006
Office: 210-591-1170
Email: wyatt@evidenceadvisors.com
Investment Advisory Services offered through Evidence Advisors, LLC, a registered investment advisor. Investopedia, LLC and Evidence Advisors, LLC are not affiliated.
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