Swing trading
Swing trading holds positions for several days to a few weeks, aiming to capture a larger move than a single session offers. It trades less often than day trading, with wider stops and larger targets.
Analysis leans on higher timeframes, and the fewer, slower decisions suit people who cannot watch markets all day. The costs are overnight ones: weekend gaps, swap charges on held positions, and news that lands while you are away from the screen.
Wider stops change the sizing arithmetic, not the risk. A 50-pip stop with $100 of planned risk means 0.20 lots ($2 per pip), versus 0.50 lots for a 20-pip stop — same dollars, different position size. Skipping that adjustment is how swing trades end up accidentally oversized.
In a prop-firm challenge
Swing styles need a careful read of the rulebook. Some firms restrict holding over weekends or through major news; an end-of-day drawdown model tolerates intraday float that an intraday model would breach; and with few trades you should plan how you will still meet minimum trading days before any deadline. Each position's full stop must also fit inside the daily loss limit on its worst day, as discussed in prop-firm rules explained.