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Swing trading is a way of trading in financial markets where you hold a share or security for a few days to a few months to try to gain from its price ups and downs (the “swings”). Because you are not holding it forever, but not just for a few minutes either, it fits between day trading and long-term investing.
Good swing trading strategies matter a lot. They help you decide when to enter (buy) and exit (sell) so that you can try to make profits more often, while handling risk using tools like charts, indicators, and price patterns. Below is a detailed guide to several popular swing trading strategies in India, and tips on how they can help improve your returns.
Swing traders use tools like daily, hourly, or weekly charts to find good moments to enter and exit trades. They look for trends and patterns like flags, triangles, head & shoulders shapes, and cup & handle shapes. Here are six widely used swing trading strategies, with how to use them.
These are basic but powerful levels in a chart.
Support is the level where price tends to stop falling and might bounce back up.
Resistance is where price tends to stop rising and might fall back.
If price breaks above resistance, it can signal the trend is strong. If the price falls below support, it may mean further decline.
Entry & Exit
A swing trader might sell when price fails to break resistance and begins falling, and place a stop-loss just above that resistance line.
Or buy when the price bounces up from support, with a stop-loss just below that support.
An SMA is a line that shows the average price over a certain number of days (for example, 10 days or 20 days). Traders draw more than one (e.g., 10-day and 20-day) to see how they interact.
Entry & Exit
If the 10-day SMA crosses above the 20-day SMA, that is a buy signal (bullish).
If the 20-day SMA crosses above the 10-day, that is a sell signal (bearish).
MACD (Moving Average Convergence Divergence) shows the difference between a “fast” and a “slow” exponential moving average (often 12-day and 26-day), along with a signal line (often 9-day).
Entry & Exit
Buy when the MACD line crosses above the signal line.
Sell when it crosses below the signal line.
This swing trading method helps you catch trend changes or momentum shifts.
This swing trading strategy is based on bands (lines) drawn above and below a moving average. The bands widen or contract depending on volatility (how much price is moving) — when volatility is high, the bands get wider, and when it’s low, they shrink.
Entry & Exit
If the price touches the upper band and the RSI (Relative Strength Index) is also high (e.g. > 70), there is a chance of a trend reversal (price may fall).
If price touches the lower band and RSI is low (e.g. < 30 or < 70 depending on method), price might bounce back up.
Often used together with RSI or other tools to confirm the signal.
In channel trading, you draw two roughly parallel lines (one above, one below) that contain the price movements. The price moves between these lines, forming a “channel.”
If the channel slopes upwards, it is a bullish channel.
If it slopes downwards, it is bearish.
Entry & Exit
In a bullish channel, you might buy near the lower line (support) and sell near the upper line (resistance).
In a bearish channel, you might sell near the upper line and buy back near the lower line.
This swing trading method uses certain ratios (like 23.6%, 38.2%, 61.8%) to predict how far a price may pull back before continuing in the direction of the trend.
Entry & Exit
Suppose the price rises from ₹100 to ₹200, then starts to fall back. It might retrace to ₹160 (61.8% line) before rising again.
A trader might enter a trade near the 61.8% retracement in a trend, expecting the trend to resume.
The exit might be near a support zone (say the 23.6% level) or as the price moves in favour.
Using swing trading strategies brings some useful benefits:
You can catch many small moves, which may add up to good profits.
The swing trading strategies are built on chart analysis, which gives you concrete signals.
You don’t have to watch the market every second, unlike day trading.
While both are short-term trading styles, there are key differences:
Feature | Swing Trading | Day Trading |
Time in market | Several days to weeks | Same day (open and closed within hours) |
Monitoring | Less intensive | Very intensive, you watch prices all day |
Leverage / Margin | Often up to 2× | Often up to 4× or more |
Opportunity | You try to ride small trends | You try to grab small price moves repeatedly |
Risk element | You face overnight risks (news while markets are closed) | Less overnight risk because positions are not held overnight |
Because swing traders keep positions open overnight and for days, there is more risk from sudden news. But they also have more time to let trends develop.
Additional Read: Swing Trading vs Position Trading
Swing trading is a strategy that takes advantage of volatility in the stock market, allowing one to capitalise on price movements from hourly to weekly price action. Traders may utilise indicators such as support & resistance levels, moving averages, MACD, Bollinger Bands, channel lines, and Fibonacci retracements from which traders enter and exit that may be profitable.
The swing trading strategies are to provide structure and discipline to trading so trades are not decided on emotion, attempting to eliminate loss or possibly doing something irrational. Nonetheless, swing trading has risks because positions are held overnight or for several days, unforeseen events can cause sudden changes in price.
With practice, you can combine the swing trading strategies to build a trading method that suits your style, time, and risk appetite — and aim to swing your way to consistent returns.
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