How many trades do you make a year?

Trading Discussion
1

I am a swing trader and I make less than 100 trades a year.
How about you?
How many trades a year?
Some people say they trade more than 10 times a day.
Some people say they trade less than 30 a year but are making big profits.
What do you think?

2

I only take about one to two trades per week. But I’m not a full-time trader though. Are you? :slight_smile:

3

I am a full time trader.
Being a full time trader doesn’t necessarily mean that you should trade the whole day.
Anyone can be a full time trader while trading once or twice a week.

4

How long have you been a full time trader? :slight_smile:

5

2 years. It was a very rewarding experience of me and it provides me very relaxed life.

6

Oh really? Do you mostly day trade? Also which markets do you trade?

8

I only take few trades in a week because I only trader short term.

9

This is an intriguing question. So, since I am intrigued, I will throw my two cents’ worth in.

There are several factors to determine the number of trades a trader may take in a year. Here are a few:

  1. Time frame. This is the most obvious one. A trader on the weekly chart will take far fewer trades per year than one who trades the 5 minute chart. However, what is often overlooked is position size. To get the exact same risk amount, a trader on the 5 minute chart will have to trade more lots to equal the same risk as the trader on the weekly chart. That’s because the stop loss is typically much closer. However, if they use the EXACT same lot size, the 5minute trader can make up for the risk disparity by taking more trades.

  2. Scalp Vs. Swing. As you already mentioned, a scalper will take many more positions in a year than a swing trader, all things being equal. Keep in mind swing vs. scalp does not necessarily mean timeframe. It refers to the profit target, i.e., scalp= less than 1:1RR, whereas swing= 1:2RR or greater. For example, I swing trade the 1-minute chart. Take a look here.

  3. Trading several pairs at one time. Some traders like to have several positions at one time using several currency pairs. This will certainly increase their trade count per year.

  4. Trading several instruments at one time. Traders who trade FOREX, stocks, indices, and commodities all at the same time will have more trades than those trading only FOREX.

So, as you can see, it is not really all that simple. However, there is one thing that I forgot to mention: overtrading. A trader who trades too often, either because of an addiction to trading or some other psych problem, is destined for failure.

So, don’t be one of those traders!

1 Like
10

Great point, Ben. I used to belong to Andrew Lockwood’s FOREX Signals trading room. I was surprised at how many pros were trading the 4-hour chart. Typically, they would only take a few positions per week. A lot of these guys did very well.