Stock Trading vs Day Trading - What’s the Difference

Stock Trading vs Day Trading – What’s the Difference?

Both stock and day trading comes with their sets of pros and cons. The main difference between the two lies in the position holding time. As the name suggests, day trading or intraday trading enables users to buy and sell shares within the same day. In other words, you sell your shares a few hours following the time you purchased them. The positions will open and close on the same day in intraday trading.

Stock trading, on the other hand, can include long-term investments. You might hold the shares for months and several years. The investor might hold these shares until the market price moves in their favorable direction. The difference between day trading and stock trading is that the latter requires more patience. Investors are supposed to watch their investment portfolios on a weekly and quarterly basis through the browsing platforms, while day traders focus on short-term trades that end within a day.

Commissions

It goes without saying that day trading involves multiple trades in a few hours, which means the investor could generate more commission from such investments. Stock trading involves only a few transactions, especially if the investor holds the share for a long duration. The higher the number of transactions, the more commission you could generate from the transaction.

Research and Analysis

Day traders are not very concerned about the company’s long-term goals, achievements, plans, and potential. They focus on different criteria when looking for stocks. To the day traders, technical analysis is more important than anything else. They check the trading volume of the shares and the price actions to pick the best shares.

Research is a crucial element of long-term investment. Investors have to research the company’s financial position, goals, and other factors. They look for organizations that have high growth potential. Volatility might seem a good sign to the traders, but this might not work well for the investors. The stocks that come with high volatility are considered unstable.

Holding Period

People spend up to 15 hours per week on day trading or a maximum of 40 hours if they are active traders. As mentioned earlier, day trading is a short-term investment, in which the positions open and close within a few hours. The holding period for the stocks is quite high. It can be anywhere between 3 months and 5 years. The main disadvantage of long-term stocks is that you cannot withdraw your money before maturity. In other words, you will have to keep the position for a long time.

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It is, therefore, important to learn both the pros and cons of intraday trading to get a better idea of how this market works and how exactly you can grow your money. In this post, we will walk you through a few advantages and disadvantages of intraday trading. So, keep reading to learn more.

• Beware of fixed/guaranteed/regular returns/ capital protection schemes. Brokers or their authorized persons or any of their associates are not authorized to offer fixed/guaranteed/regular returns/ capital protection on your investment or authorized to enter into any loan agreement with you to pay interest on the funds offered by you. Please note that in case of default of a member claim for funds or securities given to the broker under any arrangement/ agreement of indicative return will not be accepted by the relevant Committee of the Exchange as per the approved norms.
• Ensure that pay-out of funds/securities is received in your account within 1 working day from the date of pay-out.
• Be careful while executing the PoA (Power of Attorney) – specify all the rights that the stock broker can exercise and timeframe for which PoA is valid. It may be noted that PoA is not a mandatory requirement as per SEBI / Exchanges.
• Register for online applications viz Speed-e and Easiest provided by Depositories for online delivery of securities as an alternative to PoA.

• Do not keep funds idle with the Stock Broker. Please note that your stock broker has to return the credit balance lying with them, within three working days in case you have not done any transaction within last 30 calendar days. Please note that in case of default of a Member, claim for funds and securities, without any transaction on the exchange will not be accepted by the relevant Committee of the Exchange as per the approved norms.

• Check the frequency of accounts settlement opted for. If you have opted for running account, please ensure that your broker settles your account and, in any case, not later than once in 90 days (or 30 days if you have opted for 30 days settlement). In case of declaration of trading member as defaulter, the claims of clients against such defaulter member would be subject to norms for eligibility of claims for compensation from IPF to the clients of the defaulter member. These norms are available on Exchange website at following link: NSE, MCX

• Brokers are not permitted to accept transfer of securities as margin. Securities offered as margin/ collateral MUST remain in the account of the client and can be pledged to the broker only by way of ‘margin pledge’, created in the Depository system. Clients are not permitted to place any securities with the broker or associate of the broker or authorized person of the broker for any reason. Broker can take securities belonging to clients only for settlement of securities sold by the client.

• Always keep your contact details viz. Mobile number/Email ID updated with the stock broker. Email and mobile number is mandatory and you must provide the same to your broker for updation in Exchange records. You must immediately take up the matter with Stock Broker/Exchange if you are not receiving the messages from Exchange/Depositories regularly.

• Don’t ignore any emails/SMSs received from the Exchange for trades done by you. Verify the same with the Contract notes/Statement of accounts received from your broker and report discrepancy, if any, to your broker in writing immediately and if the Stock Broker does not respond, please take this up with the Exchange/Depositories forthwith.

• Check messages sent by Exchanges on a weekly basis regarding funds and securities balances reported by the trading member, compare it with the weekly statement of account sent by broker and immediately raise a concern to the exchange if you notice a discrepancy.

• Please do not transfer funds, for the purposes of trading to anyone, including an authorized person or an associate of the broker, other than a SEBI registered Stock broker.

• Do not deal with unregistered intermediaries (who are not registered with SEBI/Exchanges).

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