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This is a guest post by Joshua Ahorro from ByBit. The article is written as an educational article for stocks that is mostly applicable to crypto traders as well.

Swing Trading is a type of major trading where certain positions are held longer than one day. With swing trading, fluctuations in corporate fundamentals typically need several days to a few weeks to create adequate price trends to generate a significant amount of profit. Hence, the majority of fundamentalists prefer swing trading over any other type of trading.

In a nutshell, swing trading places in between two other well-known trading styles, namely trend trading/position trading, and day trading. With day trading, a trader holds a stock between a few seconds to a few hours within a single day only. On the contrary, trend trading requires a trader to evaluate the essential long-term trends of an index or stock. Trend traders hold the stock for a few weeks or even months. 

In this article, we highlight everything you need to know so you can have a comprehensive overview of what swing trading is all about.

What Is Swing Trading?

Swing trading is a medium-term trading technique used by traders who try to gain reputable profit from the market’s price trends. That said, swing trading helps traders buy and sell stocks whose indicators direct to a positive (upward) or negative (downward) trend in the future. Swing trading requires traders to hold a specific stock or index for a minimum of two days to a maximum of three weeks. Eventually, they trade the stocks on an intra-week or intra-month basis between positive and negative fluctuations.

Best Stocks For Swing Trading

The primary component for successful swing trading is choosing the right stocks. With swing trading, the best stocks are the large-capacity stocks considered most actively traded stocks on the market’s popular major exchanges. In a dynamic market trend, the stocks will swing between extreme heights; hence, they are swinging in low extremes and high extremes. As a result, the swing trader will take advantage of the trend in one direction for a few days or weeks only and then switch to the opposite edge when the stock reverses its trend or direction.

Pros and Cons of Swing Trading

Before anything else, we’ll describe the pros and cons of swing trading. After reading this, you can evaluate whether swing trading is the perfect trading technique you can start when it comes to stock market trading.

Pros

• Swing Trading only requires a few hours of the day, unlike Day Trading.
• It is suitable for part-time trading; hence, you can still work at your full-time job or schooling without compromising them.
• Swing traders rely completely on technical analysis; hence, swing trading has a more simplified process.
• Swing trading offers the opportunity to maximize short-term profit by seizing the bulk of market/price swings.

Cons

• Timing in the Stock Market can be challenging.
• Sudden market reversals can yield to major losses.
• Swing traders regularly miss longer-term trends or exceptional stocks over short-term market changes.
• More exposure to weekend and overnight price variations resulting in risks associated with gaps in prices

How Swing Trading Works

Swing trading gains profit through the upward and downward trends or swings in the prices of the market. Swing traders hope to capitalize on small fluctuations within a bigger overall trend. That said, they consistently target to gain a lot of small wins that eventually add up to bigger profits or returns. For instance, other traders will wait four to five months to achieve 25% profit, while swing traders produce 5% gains per week and surpass other traders’ earnings in the long run.

The majority of swing traders utilize daily charts, such as 24 hours or 48 hours, to pick the perfect entry or exit point. However, other swing traders adapt shorter time frame charts, namely hourly or 4-hour charts.

As a newbie trader, starting with swing trading is overwhelming and confusing. Numerous questions can come into your mind, especially if you have zero knowledge about trading in general. In a nutshell, we list down how to get started with swing trading.

1. Pick a suitable swing trading platform.

The first step to begin with your swing trading journey is choosing the right swing trading platform. It is crucial for obtaining relevant market data and a platform for executing your trades. With advancements in technology, many trading platforms or trading software platforms are emerging to provide traders with a one-stop-shop for their trading needs.

As an introduction, here are some of the market’s reputable trading platforms:

• TradeStation
• ByBit
• Multicharts
• AmiBroker
• TradingView
• NinjaTrader
• Thinkorswim

2. Create your trading strategies

Swing trading isn’t a one-size-fits-all type of trading. Hence, you can create so many variations of trading strategies regardless of the trading technique you want to venture into. We’ll discuss more of the swing trading strategies in the next section.

In creating a swing trading strategy, here are some of the steps that you can follow:

1. Develop a trading idea by formulating an assumption. With this step, you can observe how the stock market behaves using charts. You can play around to gain an essential overview and insights.
2. Read through articles and forums about swing trading. You can implement the concepts you’ve read and customized them according to your preference.
3. Perform a test run on the idea you’ve just created.
4. If the test you’ve performed yields promising results, you can enhance the performance of the strategy. You can have a trial and error process in improving your technique.
5. Now that you’re confident with your swing trading strategy, you can go live with the actual stock market.

Popular Swing Trading Strategies

A variety of swing trading strategies consists of different entry and exit points and technical analysis tools. Here are some of the popular swing trading strategies you can start with:

Sector Trading

Sector Trading involves the identification of the strongest market sector. Once you’ve recognized the market sector you prefer, select individual stocks that match your standards. With sector selection, you invest only in the most promising sector in the market.

Breakdown Trading

A breakdown strategy lets the swing trader choose an open position on the earlier side of a downtrend. With a breakdown strategy, you open a position as soon as the price breaks below the support level.

Breakout Trading

Breakout trading is the opposite of breakdown strategy. With breakout trading, swing traders take an open position on the early side of the uptrend and eventually identify the price to breakout. With a breakout strategy, traders start a position as soon as the price breaks above the key resistance level.

Pairs Trading

Pairs trading is a type of swing trading where the traders enter positions in two stocks within the same market sector that are often. You can short a certain stock with pairs trading, while going long on the other stock, considering that your trading strategy indicates a correlation is becoming weaker. As a result, you’re hoping to earn from one stock rising while the other is going down.

Retracement Trading

Also known as pullbacks, retracement trading involves short-term price changes within a larger trend. Retracement swing traders identify the price to temporarily reverse within the standard movement and profit from this short-term fluctuation. Reversals always begin as potential pullbacks; thus, swing traders must identify whether it is purely a pullback or the retracement is an actual relapse.

Reversal Trading

Reversal trading depends on the fluctuation in price momentum. Reversal strategy targets to earn profit from the trend variations. For instance, when an upward trend drops momentum and the price begins to shift downwards. Depending on the current market trend, the reversal can either be positive (bullish) or negative (bearish).

Also check out Stock Market Courses from Fingrad.

Conclusion

Swing trading is one of the perfect trading techniques for beginners to get an overview of what trading looks like in general. However, swing trading still provides advanced and intermediate traders with reputable profit potential.

Also, swing trading is suitable for individuals who can’t commit a whole day to monitor their charts but can set aside a few hours to analyze the stock market every night. It is ideal for those employed in full-time jobs or studying in school but have adequate free time to stay updated with the current trend of the global market or economy.

Like any other type of trading, swing trading has its advantages and disadvantages. Hence, it is entirely up to the traders to become proficient with swing trading or try other trading techniques.

This is a guest post from Anupam Varshney

It is no surprise that the crypto industry has garnered tremendous attention in Asia, especially in countries like Singapore, Japan, and South Korea. Many of the world’s largest exchanges are based in Asia, and the growing individual wealth in Asia, mainly in China and South Korea, has been a driving force for the crypto market. Alternative investment opportunities have managed to attract many individual investors through higher returns than those available on the traditional market.

The blockchain market is growing rapidly worldwide, and it is predicted that global market size will reach $39.7 billion by 2025, with a CAGR of 67.3% between 2020 and 2025. Almost 20% of cryptocurrency’s market volume comes from countries in Asia, including both big institutional investors as well as average citizens. It is clear that Asian nations are betting big on crypto.

• Singapore

The reception of blockchain technology and the broader crypto market in Singapore has been striking. The country has welcomed the emerging technology with open arms and continues to build new policies that allow further innovation. 

The Singaporean government has also reinforced its outlook by showing a willingness to experiment to find inventive solutions. For example, The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has been exploring the use of blockchain technology to clear and settle payments and securities for the past few years.

Through a collective effort with other government agencies in Singapore, the country has also developed OpenCerts, a platform that uses Ethereum smart contracts for issuing and validating digital certificates for graduates of local universities. 

As far as regulatory efforts are concerned, the country has adopted a proactive approach to the crypto market by rolling out the Payment Services Act 2019 (PRS Act) which aims to regulate the intermediaries dealing with various cryptocurrencies, including a special focus on anti-money laundering and consumer protection. The Singaporean government and the global crypto industry have managed to find a middle ground to make the most of blockchain technology.

• Dubai

Apart from a few regions, the middle east has been quite progressive with regard to cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology and receives a warm welcome in the UAE. However, there are some mixed sentiments on the regulatory front.

Last year, the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) in UAE drafted a resolution on the regulation of cryptocurrencies, clarifying certain issues related to crypto projects in the middle-east. 

The Dubai Chamber of Commerce also announced a partnership with Emirates NBD last year, one of the biggest state-owned banks in the UAE. The deal aims to assist the Dubai 10X initiative, which is working towards the digitization of trade processes. The project is called the “Digital Silk Road”, developed in partnership with Dubai Customs and the cargo handling service, DP World-UAE.

The UAE government understands the potential of blockchain technology and aims to use it for digital transactions by providing each customer with a unique identification number that redirects to their information on a secure chain. The UAE government is also pushing forward in an effort to build its own cryptocurrency. In October 2018, Dubai announced emCash, an encrypted digital currency that could be used as a mode of payment for government services and school fees.

• Hong Kong

Hong Kong has created its own Blockchain Ecosystem which acts as a bridge between blockchain startups and leading financial institutions in the region. However, cases of misappropriated assets and market manipulation have resulted in technical problems for many exchanges, forcing regulators from the Securities and Futures Commission to step in and curb the potential for fraud. By implementing regulatory actions, Hong Kong is striving to gain a reputation as a notable international blockchain hub.

The Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks (HKSTP) and Cyberport are the key contributors to the thriving cryptocurrency industry in Hong Kong. They provide support and assistance to various crypto and blockchain startups, helping the community grow and reach new heights. For example, in October 2018, HKSTP announced several new initiatives, better programs, and support services to strengthen and boost the growth of technology startups.

• South Korea

South Korea is one of the hottest regions for crypto and blockchain activities. Recently, the South Korean National Assembly unanimously passed the amendment to regulate cryptocurrencies. The new legislation gives a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and other related service providers. South Korea is also one of the top crypto trade exchange markets, making it one of the biggest hubs for crypto exchanges in recent years.

Large crypto companies like Kakao are working towards making their own cryptocurrencies along with some of the banks in the country. Two South Korean crypto exchanges, Upbit and Bithumb, are among the top exchanges worldwide, having a combined trading volume of over $200 million. Korean conglomerates like Samsung and LG have also invested heavily in blockchain technology. The country’s reshaped stance on cryptocurrencies has resulted in new investment opportunities and the rise of many new startups.

• India

For the past few years, the crypto industry has struggled in India due to its central bank’s (Reserve Bank of India) recommendation to ban trading cryptocurrencies. However, this ban was struck by the Indian Supreme Court this year, and there has been an upsurge in the Indian crypto market since. Further, many crypto startups that had been forced to move their base of operations out of the country have returned.

The crypto market in India continues to attract investors from all around the world. Binance recently announced a $50 million fund to invest in crypto and blockchain startups in India. Earlier this year, India’s largest crypto exchange, CoinDCX, managed to raise $2.5 million from Polychain Capital and Coinbase Ventures, the investment arm of American crypto exchange, Coinbase. With startups in the country getting an official green light from the authorities, the future of cryptocurrency in India looks bright.

Applications of blockchain in Asia

New applications of blockchain technology have already started to emerge as the crypto industry continues to expand across the world. One interesting example, an Indonesian coffee chain, Blue Korintji Coffee, allows paying customers to identify the farmer who grew their coffee just by scanning a barcode. The company has mastered its coffee, supply chain, and logistics through blockchain-based solutions, which it has used to distinguish itself in a highly competitive market.

This kind of approach helps build trust amongst an otherwise disconnected group. The initiative was a product of a Singaporean startup, Emurgo, that partnered with Blue Korintji to make a premium product that increases returns to farmers.

Asian consumers can affect the global blockchain economy

Though the popularity of cryptocurrencies has been rising the world over, statistical data shows cryptocurrency trading platforms are becoming much more popular in Asia as opposed to the rest of the world.

Asia has a population of about 4 billion people, making it the most densely populated continent in the world. From a business perspective, this means more speculative investors are ready to take risks. According to a recent study, the average consumer in the Asia-Pacific region spends roughly around $10,000 to $100,000 per $1000 spent by people in the US. As various crypto exchanges continue to outgrow traditional stock exchanges, government officials believe cryptocurrencies could replace fiat in the future.

Crypto, a revolution to watch out for 

Asia is set to become the global leader by adopting proper regulations along with better education and awareness regarding the subject. However, there are still many hurdles on the path to mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. Blockchain technology provides a great opportunity for people and institutions alike to engage with groundbreaking technologies, and potentially change the way we live and interact with the economy. However, caution and diligence should not be ignored while attempting to make the most of it.

This is a guest post from We Accept Cryptocurrency

Most people see cryptocurrency as an investment; a hedge against the inflationary fiat monetary system. But that was not the original intention of the Bitcoin founders. They saw Bitcoin as “electronic cash,” a radical alternative to fiat money. They envisioned people spending Bitcoin on everyday items. They envisioned people sending Bitcoin to friends and family as a gift, and using it to pay contractors for their work. Anything money can do, cryptocurrency can do better.

We Accept Cryptocurrency is a newly launched website with a mission to increase real-world cryptocurrency use and adoption. The website is a resource of online merchants and services (as well as charities) that accept cryptocurrencies as a method of payment. Bitcoin has the largest directory, but the site also lists the following cryptocurrencies: ETH, BCH, LTC, DASH, NANO, XMR, EOS, XRP.

There is a strong need for such a resource, because currently the information on real-world crypto adoption is scattered. There are many coin-specific resources (a website listing merchants accepting Litecoin for example), and several geography-specific resources (a website listing places to spend crypto in NYC for example), but a global Internet resource is needed. We Accept Cryptocurrency remains geography-agnostic by listing online merchants only. 

Many people today are privileged to be able to consider cryptocurrency exclusively in investment terms. In countries with stable monetary policy, that makes sense. However there are countries like Venezuela where cryptocurrency adoption is growing rapidly as a matter of necessity due to hyperinflation. 

For users in countries like Venezuela, the mission of We Accept Cryptocurrency is even more crucial, because finding merchants that accept cryptocurrency when fiat is no longer a viable option takes on another level of importance. If We Accept Cryptocurrency continues to expand its directory it may become an asset to those who really need cryptocurrency the most. 

The way We Accept Cryptocurrency vets a merchant before its inclusion into the website is as follows: the We Accept Cryptocurrency team first reaches out directly to the merchant asking them to confirm that they do currently accept cryptocurrency. They ask the merchant for the page on their website where their crypto policy (and discounts) is listed, and link to that page directly. This methodology leads to significantly fewer broken or outdated listings when compared with various coin-specific directories.

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

This is a guest post from Dimitris Tsapis. The views expressed are his own and do not reflect the opinions of the editors of other writers of BTC Geek. This is not investment advice. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile and could lose money. Never invest more than you can afford to lose

Editors Note: We do not agree with some of the picks, like XRP. However, we strongly believe in having diverse opinions on this blog, and include writers whose views we don’t fully agree with.

In the last few years, the cryptocurrency market has seen many new coins enter the space. With more than 1600 cryptocurrencies to invest in 2019, choosing the best coins becomes a complicated task.

Most of these new coins promise high returns for early investors and try to revolutionize the market, one way or another.

But do they have the potential? Will they perform as they claim?

Sure enough, many of these coins have made their investors very rich, since their price appreciated more than 100-fold over a relatively short timeframe.

But let’s not forget the older coins as well. Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin created many “overnight millionaires” back in the early days of crypto.

So how can we estimate which coins have the best opportunity to increase in value over the next bull-run?

How can we find true gems when practically everyone can create a new cryptocurrency? This question is especially relevant to invest in cryptocurrencies in 2019 as opposed to say 2017 when we had a massive bull run. In 2019, things have settled down and we’re more in the accumulation phase as opposed to a massive bull market.

In this article, we will analyze the factors that determine the best cryptocurrencies to invest in. We will also make a somewhat risky guess for our top contenders. Let’s get started.

A Closer Look at Cryptocurrency Investing

Investments of all kinds should be made after performing in-depth research and patient market observation. This is especially true with cryptocurrencies since they tend to follow historical patterns.

Therefore, before you invest in a cryptocurrency, make sure you train yourself to become emotionally detached from “trendy” coins and other external influences.

After all, the investment decision is yours only, as are the profits and losses that come with it.

Start by focusing your attention on what matters most. And by that, I don’t mean YouTube videos from self-proclaimed experts. Nor do I mean sponsored posts with heavy promotion.

Your goal should be to get information from reliable resources and form an opinion based on a coin’s future potential and technological development.

This step is very important. In-depth research will help you put emotions on the side and create a strategy to achieve your investment objectives.

Start by asking yourself the following questions:

• What is the amount I want to invest?
• Am I in it for the long term potential or short term gains?
• What is my goal profit? At which price am I going to sell?
• How strong is my emotional intelligence and patience?
• How easily am I influenced by others?

Cryptocurrency investing is pretty similar to other investment markets. Some people will buy and sell their assets often, while others implement a more “long-term” approach, hoping to make more profits.

While the first option is often preferred in bear markets, it is the latter option that has proven to give investors the most optimal returns over time.

Take a look at the top cryptocurrencies for instance. Bitcoin and Ethereum didn’t reach their peak price overnight. It took a lot of patience and belief from investors not to sell throughout all this time.

On the other hand, exponential profits can also occur in the short term. Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) are a great example. Most of them saw immediate growth after their release into the market.

But, as with everything that seems too good to be true, so with ICOs, one needs to do his due diligence before buying unknown coins. Very often, coins like that have nothing to offer to the space and are simply created to generate profit for the founders.

When looking for a coin that has the potential of performing great, what we look for is:

• Relative price stability during the latest bear market
• Big upside potential in case of a new bull market

That being said, let’s look at the best cryptocurrencies to invest in for 2019.

Bitcoin

The term “Bitcoin is king” has not been given to the cryptocurrency without a reason.

Not only is it the first and only decentralized cryptocurrency, it is also the most popular one, having reached a peak price of $19750 during the latest bull run of 2017.

Here is why we think Bitcoin is one of the best cryptocurrencies to invest in:

• Rich historical data for its price fluctuations
• It has the highest market cap of all coins
• It is the most popular cryptocurrency and the only truly decentralized one
• Most merchants that accept cryptocurrencies, opt for Bitcoin
• Due to its market dominance, it determines the direction of the market

Bitcoin presents a really good investment opportunity, especially for those who are looking to make a long term investment.

The future of Blockchain technology has yet to come, and the price of Bitcoin will likely follow.

Ripple

XRP is currently the third large cryptocurrency by market cap. Created in 2012 by Ripple Labs, the token has seen some impressive gains starting from $0.006$ in March 2017 to its all-time high of $3.65 in January 2018.

Even though the recent market conditions were not favorable, XRP should not be overlooked. And here is why:

• The team invests a lot of money and time in marketing and PR
• Has a large fan base
• Currently placed third by market cap
• XRP is not only a store of value but also a reliable payment method

To add the last point, this means that transactions can be confirmed instantly when other coins are struggling with scalability issues.

As a result, many financial institutions have already started making transactions with XRP. Banks like JP Morgan, Saudi Arabia Central Bank, American Express, and China LianLian International are already using the system, increasing investors’ confidence and trust in the token’s future.

Ethereum

Ethereum is the first smart contract platform to have ever been created, enabling decentralized applications to become a reality. In its 2 years of existence, it managed to lead the ICO movement that saw many new coins enter the market.

Ethereum is one of the cryptocurrencies that has been around longer than its competitors.

The coin is currently sitting in the second position by market capitalization, with a total market cap of $17 Billion.

With generally good market sentiment and consistent transparency from its founder, Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum has managed to improve its community trust during the latest bear market.

So why is it a good cryptocurrency to invest it?

• More than 2000 dApps are created on the Ethereum platform.
• The coin is placed as the second most valuable cryptocurrency by market cap ($17B)
• ETH has an advantage when it comes to user adoption due to its smart contract platform
• 2% of ETH supply is “locked” due to open finance markets (crypto loans)

And these are just to name a few. If you dig deeper, you will come to realize that many financial institutions are starting to implement smart contracts, which in turn makes ETH a very useful token.

Adding to that, we believe that the best cryptocurrencies will be those who help improve the space. And Ethereum is doing just that. Its ecosystem helps anyone create decentralized apps and new cryptocurrencies, hoping to improve the blockchain industry as a whole.

Litecoin

Using Bitcoin’s source-code, it is a fork of Bitcoin with some technical changes to the code, making it one of the fastest cryptocurrencies. Its mission is also to be a global, peer to peer currency.

Litecoin is known for its strong fan base and the numerous acronyms it has received as being the silver to Bitcoin’s gold.

Created in 2011, Litecoin is one of the oldest and most popular cryptocurrencies in 2019. It’s creator, Charlie Lee, is a well-known computer scientist who also happens to work as the Director of Engineering in Coinbase.

And while he publicly stated that he sold all of Litecoin close to the peak of the latest bull market, Charlie is still heavily supporting and promoting Litecoin to the public.

So what makes it a great investment?

• Litecoin is a top 5 coin by market capitalization, currently sitting at a $4.5 Billion market cap.
• It has a high trading volume as it is listed on the world’s biggest exchanges.
• It has high community trust and a rather high media interest.
• It follows the same “halving” protocol as Bitcoin, currently rewarding miners 25 Litecoin per block.

Binance Coin

Unlike Bitcoin and Litecoin which aim to be used as currencies, the Binance coin is a utility token. Which means its value comes from how useful it is (and how much demand there is for its utility) within the Binance ecosystem.

Binance has proven to be very strong in the current market conditions. In fact, if you had invested in BNB at the beginning of the latest bear market, you would have made the biggest returns to date.

Let’s see why BNB is a great investment choice:

• BNB is the token of the most popular cryptocurrency exchange worldwide, Binance.
• The coin’s price has appreciated 3x (in BTC value) since the peak of the latest bull market.
• Changpen Zhao (Binance CEO) has achieved positive publicity through Twitter.
• Even with the 7000 BTC hack that Binance suffered, the coin’s price remained stable.
• Binance is leading mainstream adoption by investing in numerous Blockchain projects.
• Binance is launching a decentralized exchange, Binance DEX, which is estimated to increase the utility of BNB.

Apart from the above, the coin has large liquidity, due to its utility on Binance exchange.

Therefore, if you are looking to diversify your portfolio, we strongly suggest Binance coin as one of your top options.

A final word

Investing, in all its forms, always comes with a certain amount of risk. The options above are simply an educated guess based on our experience in the space and the information we have available.

To sum up, here are the cryptocurrencies we strongly believe in:

– Bitcoin (BTC)

– Ripple (XRP)

– Ethereum (ETH)

– Litecoin (LTC)

– Binance coin (BNB)

When looking for the best cryptocurrency to invest in, it is important to gain a lot of different perspectives and conduct thorough research on the fundamentals of your coins’ options.

The best way to get started is by checking your current portfolio and start reading upon the coins you are currently holding. How experienced is their team? What are the key characteristics that will help this coin grow?

Good luck with your future investments and remember to only invest what you can afford to lose. We are not financial advisors and can only give you our personal opinion when it comes to the cryptocurrency market.

Dimitris Tsapis is writing content for Paybis, one of Europe’s top cryptocurrency exchanges, where you can buy bitcoin and other digital currencies fast and easy.