Is it better to day trade ETFs?
A Smart Move. Day trading is among one of the best ETF trading strategies due to the high volatility environment. And this can provide you with very lucrative short-term opportunities. High volatility means you can easily buy and sell ETFs anytime during trading.
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) – The daily average (30) volume is 70 million and the average (30) daily movement is 0.78%. This ETF tracks the S&P 500 index (the largest US companies) which makes it quite stable compared to individual stocks and is widely used by both day traders and investors.
Brokerage houses may charge a commission for ETF trades just as they charge for any other market-traded security. These fees are typically around $20 per trade or less but they can add up over time if the investor trades ETFs often.
Generally speaking, the best time to trade ETFs is closer to the middle of the trading day rather than the beginning or end.
SPY is an ETF that tracks the S&P 500 index, holds approximately 500 stocks, and is well diversified across all the major sectors in the market. In contrast, QQQ tracks the Nasdaq-100, which follows the top 100 companies on the Nasdaq exchange, excluding any companies in the financial sector.
To profit, day traders rely heavily on market volatility. A day trader may find a stock attractive if it moves a lot during the day. That could happen for a number of different reasons, including an earnings report, investor sentiment, or even general economic or company news.
There are no restrictions on how often you can buy and sell stocks or ETFs. You can invest as little as $1 with fractional shares, there is no minimum investment and you can execute trades throughout the day, rather than waiting for the NAV to be calculated at the end of the trading day.
Ideal ETFs for day traders should have high liquidity, low transaction costs, and tight bid-ask spreads. Some of the best ETFs for day traders include those that track the S&P 500 Index, the Dow Jones Broad Market Index, and Treasuries.
- Low fees: Robinhood.
- Stocks and options traders: E*TRADE.
- Options and futures investors: Tastytrade.
- Mobile investing: Webull.
- Active brokers: Interactive Brokers.
Yes, you can buy and sell ETFs on the same day. There are no restrictions on how often you can buy and sell ETFs because they trade similarly to stocks. Additionally, you can even buy and sell the same ETF as many times as you want all in one day.
What is the 30 day rule on ETFs?
If you buy substantially identical security within 30 days before or after a sale at a loss, you are subject to the wash sale rule. This prevents you from claiming the loss at this time.
Key Takeaways
For most ETFs, selling after less than a year is taxed as a short-term capital gain. ETFs held for longer than a year are taxed as long-term gains. If you sell an ETF, and buy the same (or a substantially similar) ETF after less than 30 days, you may be subject to the wash sale rule.
Market risk
The single biggest risk in ETFs is market risk. Like a mutual fund or a closed-end fund, ETFs are only an investment vehicle—a wrapper for their underlying investment. So if you buy an S&P 500 ETF and the S&P 500 goes down 50%, nothing about how cheap, tax efficient, or transparent an ETF is will help you.
| Rank | Stock | Daily trade volume (Nasdaq) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tesla Motors | 169,139,561 |
| 2 | Nvidia Corp | 50,631,196 |
| 3 | Meta Platforms | 33,252,404 |
| 4 | Microsoft Corp | 31,526,278 |
| Symbol | Volatility | Price |
|---|---|---|
| EGOX D | 117.23% | 0.0512 USD |
| TTWG D | 111.58% | 3.73 USD |
| NKGN D | 94.20% | 1.1060 USD |
| SSBFM D | 91.91% | 1.77 USD |
High bear market risk: Just as QQQ tends to outperform the S&P 500 during bull markets, it also often underperforms it during bear markets.
While it's theoretically possible to earn $1,000 daily through day trading or stock market investments, it's important to note that such earnings are not guaranteed, and they come with significant risks. Day trading and stock market investments can be highly volatile, and there are no guarantees of profits.
A common approach for new day traders is to start with a goal of $200 per day and work up to $800-$1000 over time. Small winners are better than home runs because it forces you to stay on your plan and use discipline. Sure, you'll hit a big winner every now and then, but consistency is the real key to day trading.
With a $10,000 account, a good day might bring in a five percent gain, which is $500. However, day traders also need to consider fixed costs such as commissions charged by brokers. These commissions can eat into profits, and day traders need to earn enough to overcome these fees [2].
However, if you know that you'd like a bit more exposure to smaller and medium-sized companies or just want to invest in more stocks overall, VTI is your best bet. VOO, meanwhile, is the better option for investors who want to focus heavily on large cap companies.
Is it smart to only invest in ETFs?
ETFs make a great pick for many investors who are starting out as well as for those who simply don't want to do all the legwork required to own individual stocks. Though it's possible to find the big winners among individual stocks, you have strong odds of doing well consistently with ETFs.
Holding too many ETFs in your portfolio introduces inefficiencies that in the long term will have a detrimental impact on the risk/reward profile of your portfolio. For most personal investors, an optimal number of ETFs to hold would be 5 to 10 across asset classes, geographies, and other characteristics.
Some traders follow something called the "10 a.m. rule." The stock market opens for trading at 9:30 a.m., and the time between 9:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. often has significant trading volume. Traders that follow the 10 a.m. rule think a stock's price trajectory is relatively set for the day by the end of that half-hour.
The S&P 500's so-called "5-Day Rule" holds that if the market rises in the first five trading sessions of the year, it will end the year higher. Broadening that out, if the S&P 500 ends January in the green it will end the year in the green too.
Assuming an average annual return rate of about 10% (a typical historical average), a $10,000 investment in the S&P 500 could potentially grow to approximately $25,937 over 10 years.
