List of stock trading strategies

A - Z List of Trading Strategies.

Below you will find a simple alphabetical list of all the options trading strategies that we cover on this site. If you are looking for further details on a specific strategy then simply scroll down to that one and click on the relevant link. We have also provided a very brief description of each one.

Albatross Spread: An advanced neutral trading strategy.

Bear Butterfly Spread: A complex bearish trading strategy.

Bear Call Spread: A bearish trading strategy that requires a high trading level.

Bear Put Ladder Spread: A complex bearish trading strategy.

Bear Put Spread: A bearish trading strategy that is suitable for beginners.

Bear Ratio Spread: A complex bearish trading strategy.

Box Spread, Conversion & Reversal Arbitrage and Strike Arbitrage: See Options Arbitrage Strategies.

Bull Butterfly Spread: A complex bullish trading strategy.

Bull Call Ladder Spread: A complex bullish trading strategy.

Bull Call Spread: A bullish trading strategy that is suitable for beginners.

Bull Condor Spread: A complex bullish trading strategy.

Bull Put Spread: A bullish trading strategy that requires a high trading level.

Bull Ratio Spread: A complex bullish trading strategy.

Butterfly Spread: An advanced neutral trading strategy.

Buy Call Options: See Long Call.

Buy Put Options: See Long Put.

Calendar Call Spread: A simple neutral trading strategy.

Calendar Put Spread: A simple neutral trading strategy.

Calendar Straddle: An advanced neutral trading strategy.

Calendar Strangle: An advanced neutral trading strategy.

Call Ratio Backspread: A fairly complicated volatile trading strategy that leans towards bullish.

Call Ratio Spread: An advanced neutral trading strategy.

Condor Spread: An advanced neutral trading strategy.

Covered Call Collar: A fairly simple neutral trading strategy that is suitable for beginners.

Covered Call: A relatively simple neutral trading strategy that is suitable for beginners.

Covered Put: A fairly complex neutral trading strategy.

Iron Albatross Spread: An advanced neutral trading strategy.

Iron Butterfly Spread: An advanced neutral trading strategy.

Iron Condor Spread: An advanced neutral trading strategy.

Long Call: A single transaction bullish trading strategy. Suitable for beginners.

Long Gut: A simple volatile trading strategy suitable beginners.

Long Put: A single transaction bearish trading strategy that is suitable for beginners.

Long Straddle: A simple volatile trading strategy suitable for beginners.

Long Strangle: A simple volatile trading strategy suitable for beginners.

Naked Call Write: See Short Call.

Naked Put Write: See Short Put.

Put Ratio Backspread: A reasonably complex volatile trading strategy that leans towards bearish.

Put Ratio Spread: An advanced neutral trading strategy.

Reverse Iron Condor Spread: An advanced volatile trading strategy.

Short Albatross Spread: A complex volatile trading strategy.

Short Bear Ratio Spread: A fairly complicated bearish trading strategy.

Short Bull Ratio Spread: A fairly complicated bullish trading strategy.

Short Butterfly Spread: A complicated volatile trading strategy.

Short Calendar Call Spread: An advanced volatile trading strategy.

Short Call: A single transaction bearish trading strategy.

Short Condor Spread: An advanced volatile trading strategy.

Short Gut: A simple neutral trading strategy.

Short Put: A single transaction bullish trading strategy.

Short Straddle: A relatively simple neutral trading strategy.

Short Strangle: A quite straightforward neutral trading strategy.

Strap Straddle: A simple volatile trading strategy suitable for beginners.

Strap Strangle: A simple volatile trading strategy suitable for beginners.

Strip Straddle: A simple volatile trading strategy suitable for beginners.

Strip Strangle: A simple volatile trading strategy suitable for beginners.

Synthetic Covered Call, Short Straddle, and Straddle: See Synthetic Options Strategies.

4 Common Active Trading Strategies.

Active trading is the act of buying and selling securities based on short-term movements to profit from the price movements on a short-term stock chart. The mentality associated with an active trading strategy differs from the long-term, buy-and-hold strategy. The buy-and-hold strategy employs a mentality that suggests that price movements over the long term will outweigh the price movements in the short term and, as such, short-term movements should be ignored. Active traders, on the other hand, believe that short-term movements and capturing the market trend are where the profits are made. There are various methods used to accomplish an active-trading strategy, each with appropriate market environments and risks inherent in the strategy. Here are four of the most common types of active trading and the built-in costs of each strategy. (Active trading is a popular strategy for those trying to beat the market average. To learn more, check out How To Outperform The Market .)

Day trading is perhaps the most well known active-trading style. It's often considered a pseudonym for active trading itself. Day trading, as its name implies, is the method of buying and selling securities within the same day. Positions are closed out within the same day they are taken, and no position is held overnight. Traditionally, day trading is done by professional traders, such as specialists or market makers. However, electronic trading has opened up this practice to novice traders. (For related reading, also see Day Trading Strategies For Beginners .)

[ Learning which strategy is going to work best for you is one of the first steps you need to take as an aspiring trader . If you're interested in day trading, Investopedia Academy's Day Trader Course can teach you a proven strategy that includes six different types of trades. ]

Some actually consider position trading to be a buy-and-hold strategy and not active trading. However, position trading, when done by an advanced trader, can be a form of active trading. Position trading uses longer term charts - anywhere from daily to monthly - in combination with other methods to determine the trend of the current market direction. This type of trade may last for several days to several weeks and sometimes longer, depending on the trend. Trend traders look for successive higher highs or lower highs to determine the trend of a security. By jumping on and riding the "wave," trend traders aim to benefit from both the up and downside of market movements. Trend traders look to determine the direction of the market, but they do not try to forecast any price levels. Typically, trend traders jump on the trend after it has established itself, and when the trend breaks, they usually exit the position. This means that in periods of high market volatility, trend trading is more difficult and its positions are generally reduced.

When a trend breaks, swing traders typically get in the game. At the end of a trend, there is usually some price volatility as the new trend tries to establish itself. Swing traders buy or sell as that price volatility sets in. Swing trades are usually held for more than a day but for a shorter time than trend trades. Swing traders often create a set of trading rules based on technical or fundamental analysis; these trading rules or algorithms are designed to identify when to buy and sell a security. While a swing-trading algorithm does not have to be exact and predict the peak or valley of a price move, it does need a market that moves in one direction or another. A range-bound or sideways market is a risk for swing traders. (For more on swing trading, see our Introduction To Swing Trading .)

Scalping is one of the quickest strategies employed by active traders. It includes exploiting various price gaps caused by bid/ask spreads and order flows. The strategy generally works by making the spread or buying at the bid price and selling at the ask price to receive the difference between the two price points. Scalpers attempt to hold their positions for a short period, thus decreasing the risk associated with the strategy. Additionally, a scalper does not try to exploit large moves or move high volumes; rather, they try to take advantage of small moves that occur frequently and move smaller volumes more often. Since the level of profits per trade is small, scalpers look for more liquid markets to increase the frequency of their trades. And unlike swing traders, scalpers like quiet markets that aren't prone to sudden price movements so they can potentially make the spread repeatedly on the same bid/ask prices. (To learn more on this active trading strategy, read Scalping: Small Quick Profits Can Add Up . )

Costs Inherent with Trading Strategies.

There's a reason active trading strategies were once only employed by professional traders. Not only does having an in-house brokerage house reduce the costs associated with high-frequency trading, but it also ensures a better trade execution. Lower commissions and better execution are two elements that improve the profit potential of the strategies. Significant hardware and software purchases are required to successfully implement these strategies in addition to real-time market data. These costs make successfully implementing and profiting from active trading somewhat prohibitive for the individual trader, although not all together unachievable.

Active traders can employ one or many of the aforementioned strategies. However, before deciding on engaging in these strategies, the risks and costs associated with each one need to be explored and considered. (For related reading, also take a look at Risk Management Techniques For Active Traders .)

List of Stock Trading Strategies.

The trend is your friend! Click here to see the Top 50 Trending Stocks.

The stock trading strategies you decide to use can be one of the most important factors in your stock trading success.

After you've considered how much time you have that's easily available to spend on trading you can then identify which strategies will fit with your strengths and personality. What you’ll find here are brief descriptions of particular strategies categorized by the length of time that the stocks are held. Within each category you’ll find specific time commitments, the style or method of the strategy, specific strategies that can be used and a list of recommended books on the topic.

This will help you define the stock trading strategies you feel most comfortable using. The markets are always changing so you will probably want more than one that you are comfortable using for when the stock market direction changes or gets into a range-bound zone.

If you want to read more about what a strategy is comprised of read “What are Stock Trading Strategies? ”.

If something is not described to your satisfaction, feel free to look terms up at Investopedia.

Day Trade - Opening and Closing Positions in One Day.

Day trading is a different animal. Stocks are traded during the day and held from a few seconds to several hours, but all positions are closed out before the end of the day.

Sections of what you’ll find on this site will help you with day trading including money management, technical indicators, better trades and market direction. However if you’re looking for day trading strategies this really isn’t the site for that. It’s mentioned here simply to put the various stock trading strategies in perspective.

Time commitment: Most or all day.

Style: Mostly completely technical, uses indicators, Candlestick formations (price patterns)

Strategies: Intra-day technical indicators – ADX, Moving Average crossovers (and combined with other indicator – using non-similar indicators – moment, vol), gap Trading, support/resistance, oscillators – MACD, STO, Candlestick formations, long or short positions.

Short-Term Trader - Holding a Position for a Few Days to a Week.

Time commitment: Several hours per day or less.

Style: Technical indicators(charts), Candlestick formations, News.

Swing Trading - Short Side.

Other technical analysis stock trading based strategies – MA crossovers, RSI, oscillators including MACD, stochastics and combined with other non-similar indicators like – price moment or volume)

Long or short positions.

Mid-Term Trader - Holding a Position for Weeks to Months.

Time commitment: Approximately one hour a day or less.

Style: Technical analysis, technical with fundamental analysis, Candlestick formations, News.

Indicator strategies – MA crossovers, RSI, ADX, etc.

Channel break out.

Long-Term Investing - Holding a Position for Months to Years.

Stock purchases based on fundamentals only or with the additional use of technical indicators to confirm the stock’s trend. (See How to Invest in Stocks for more information.)

Time commitment: Small amount of time each week or month or more if desired.

Style: Fundamental analysis, fundamental with technicals.

Dogs of the DOW.

ACTION STEP: Pick one strategy listed above that fits into the time you have for research and trading. Read about the strategy by clicking on any strategies that are linked here or go to Investopedia for more information.

If your strategy (growth, value or income/dividend stocks) doesn't already include a technical indicator for reading how price is moving, move on to Action Step 4 of Secrets to Stock Market Strategies: Technical Analysis Stock Trading.

Picking good stock trading strategies is an integral part of a Stock Trading Warrior’s arsenal and a key to stock trading success!

Here are other webpages in the stock market strategy series that you might be interested in:

Secrets to Stock Market Strategies.

What Makes up a Strategy?

Return to 10 Steps to Stock Trading Success.

Return from Trading Strategies to Online Stock Trading for Everyone!

A list of successful trading strategies.

There are thousands of different trading strategies out there that can help you make money in the stock market.? If you are just starting out it can be confusing.? You may be asking yourself a few questions like, how do I make money and what is the best trading system for me? Here I have composed a list of the best trading systems that have been proven to make money in the stock market.? Study them to find out which one is the best for you.

1. Trend traders, these are traders that simply buy up trending stocks and sell down trending stocks.? An up trending stock is a stock that keeps making higher highs and higher lowers.? What a trend trader would do is get into this stock at their low and hold onto it until it stops making higher highs and higher lows. That is it. They do not necessarily have to look at the company’s fundamentals. If it is going up it probably has good fundamentals anyway.

2. Swing traders, these traders play off of support and resistance.

. That means you have a 3/1 risk reward ratio. If you win only 20% of the time with a 4/1 risk reward ratio you still make money.? Risk reward is very important in swing trading most traders will not take less than a 2/1 risk reward ratio. Also because in a swing trading you will be wrong more than you are right you will need to only risk a small amount of your money in any 1 trade.

3. Break out traders; these are the opposite of swing traders.? They want to buy stocks that break above resistance and sell stocks that break bellow support.? Let us say the stock in the example above broke out to $62. It is now above its resistance of $60 now old resistance becomes support and it will probably go higher.

. A break out trader would buy it here and follow the stock up.? They would a stop bellow $60 and move it higher and higher as the stock goes up.? Your trade ends when you get stopped out. How much higher to place your stop when a stock moves up depends on the trader.? Some traders use a trailing stop that can put a stop a certain percentage below the stock’s price.? Others, like myself, prefer to manually set the stop were they think is best. It depends on the trader.

For more information about how to make money in the stock market visit.