Nifty Day Trading vs. Investing - What vs. Why

At the outset let me state that I do both - I have a portfolio of investment which I do not touch for day trading. I also day trade Nifty futures. AND I keep these two activities separate.

However, since I am involved in both, I become aware of differences in the approaches and in the types of questions that are asked in each endeavor.

In this post, I will focus on the types of questions that a day trader - hopefully a successful day trader - focuses on.

Short term trading is all about focusing on and analysing the prevailing price action - the shorter the term, the sharper is the focus - and day trading is nothing but price action of the minute, hour or the day.

An investor asks the question: why is the price falling?

A day trader does not ask that question. To her, that the price is falling is a reality.
At the most she might ask:

What has the price fallen to? Or, more importantly,

What was the last swing high? Or,

What are the support or resistance levels, as seen in the price action?


Whereas an investor will ask why is the p/e so high? and might decide to buy or sell based on answers to such questions, a day trader will never ask ( or must never ask ) why the last support broken or why did the last resistance did not hold? Instead, the trader accepts the reality, absorbs a loss if found wrong, and sets up the next trade.

The focus of a trader is what is happening rather that why it is happening.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. If you have any comments please write to me at stockmarket.methods.in.madness@gmail.com

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Disclaimer: The above analysis is just that - my analysis. If you choose to trade on the basis of this analysis, you will be solely responsible for the outcome of the trade - profit or loss. Please keep in mind that trading and in particular day trading is not for the novice and there is significant risk of loss of capital in trading.