It’s 2025, nowadays we have self-driving cars, wireless connections all around the world, seamless cross-border transactions, and also, it seems like every few months we’re launching a billionaire into space for their amusement. What we mean by that is: the future is here!
For cryptocurrency investors—today we have thousands of different options for platforms, wallets, and exchanges to pick from. The thing is, these platforms are also growing in terms of hardware demands, meaning it might be finally time to retire your old college notebook and get yourself a decent setup. So if you’re interested in upgrading your trading setup for day trading vs. swing trading – check out this quick guide!
Day Trading vs. Swing Trading Setup
Day Trading and Swing Trading are the two most common types of trading in all markets. While the two are vastly different from one another, they also share similar strategies between them.
There are 4 different types of trading: scalping, day trading, swing trading, and long trading. This article will focus mostly on swing and day trading, but here is a quick recap of all the possibilities in the market:
- Scalping
Very short timeframes, from 1-minute to up to 15-minute candlesticks. The goal is to quickly “scalp” rapid price movements to collect profits. Giving them several opportunities to buy or short an asset in a day.
- Day Trading
Day traders make their positions within one trading day, in timeframes of 15 minutes to up to 4-hour candlesticks. In day trading, investors close their positions before the end of the day in order to protect themselves from overnight volatility.
- Swing Trading
Swing traders operate under longer timeframes, usually looking at daily charts and a position can last up to several weeks. This type of trading relies heavily on technical analysis as the foundation to predict significant price movements in the market.
- Long Trading
Long traders are faithful believers of the HODL ideology, usually holding on to an asset they believe in for months or years on end. This type of trading looks to capitalize on long-term market movements, usually paying little to no attention to hourly or weekly volatility.
Best Trading Tools for Day Trading
As short-term investors, Day traders require fast and reliable platforms to quickly respond to their inputs. Any time wasted in this format could mean less profits or even losses. Due to that, exchanges that cater to this type of investment are essential for an optimized workspace.
Exchanges like ByBit thrive in this type of format due to its high leverage options, consistently high trading volume, 100x leverage, trading-view integrated charts, and user-friendly interface. Aside from exchanges, knowing the ins and outs of the market is essential to capitalize on quick market movements seen on daily timeframes.
At first, becoming a high-level analyst may take time and effort. After all, being able to customize charts, analyze real-time data, dabble with several technical indicators, and more may seem daunting at first glance. For this reason, beginners are greatly advised to check out tutoring communities such as our very own “Legends Community”, where you can learn key strategies to become the best trader possible.
Swing Trading Setup Essentials
Swing traders—not to be confused with swingers as mentioning how much money you made from swinging during the nighttime dinner may lead to awkward conversations—are investors who rely on long-term price movements to make their positions.
This doesn’t mean timing isn’t important for swing traders, as analyzing a potential breakout only to miss the margin may lead to less profits.
To make the most of your swing trading setup, a platform with advanced trading and analytical tools, security, 24/7 customer support, and good profit potential is the best bet. The market has several good options for exchanges, a good stand out being BloFin—a cryptocurrency exchange that encompasses all the previously mentioned characteristics, with a surplus of 150x trading leverage.
How to Optimize a Day Trading Workspace
Day trading requires a lot of patience and attention to keep an eye on rapid price movements seen during a 24-hour period. This means getting a good and comfortable chair, getting your stretch routine in line, and making sure you maintain good posture throughout the day.
Also, given the quick movements that can happen in a 1-day span—fixing you up with a quick and reliable internet connection, powerful hardware, and preferably more than one monitor can also significantly benefit your ability to catch trends.
One thing that is often overlooked is making sure your workspace is completely distraction-free. Distraction may lead to poorly-placed positions, or even lead to more stress causing you to not be in the right mindset to day trade.
Key Differences in Day and Swing Trading Setups
Day traders often need to be closely monitoring the market due to the rapid timeframe this type of investment relies on. With that said, swing trading is also without its compromises, as it requires thorough study and analysis so investors can hit the sweet spot in market variations.
Both types require reliable workspaces and well-performing hardware in order to operate smoothly. The key difference between these two is that, while day trading requires a fast response setup, swing trading demands a setup that supports in-depth analysis and longer-term monitoring.
Day Trading Strategies and Tools
Day trading strategies rely heavily on the current market momentum. On this note, strategies like momentum trading, scalping resistance and support zones, and analyzing volume to determine the short-term path are some of the most used in this type of investment.
Indicators like simple and exponential moving averages, Bollinger Bands, and Relative Strength Index (RSI) are some of the most popular among day traders.
Swing Trading Strategies and Tools
Swing trading strategies are similar to day trading but cater to longer timeframes. For instance, swing traders are also keeping track of relevant key zones of an asset in the charts, with the difference that instead of looking for quick momentum, these investors are analyzing potential long-term movements the market may make.
For that, analyzing the charts with tools like the MACD, Stochastic Oscillator, or even the good old Fibonacci Retracement scales are some of the most popular swing trading strategies.
In case you’re feeling lost and don’t know where to start in developing these strategies—places like the Legends Community offer several key market strategies for swing and day traders alike for free, so make sure to check it out here.
High-Level Technical Indicators for Day vs. Swing Trading
Day Trading Indicators
A quick level up from the previous indicators, seasoned day traders often use two high-level indicators to help them determine the daily movements of an asset.
- VWAP
The VWAP (Volume Weighted Average Price), is a trading tool that represents the average price of a crypto or any other asset throughout the day. Since it’s based on both the volume and the price of the given asset, traders can use it to obtain quick insights into the recent performance of the asset in order to make their positions quicker as the VWAP helps them understand the average price of the asset during a specific timeframe.
- Level II Quotes
Level II quotes are probably the best and fastest way to analyze the current supply and demand of a currency—allowing investors to determine the most likely best bid and ask prices in a glimpse.
Day Trading Indicators
Some of the best swing traders out there use only a handful of indicators to perform their trades. Among some of the most popular indicators are:
- Ichimoku Cloud
The Ichimoku Cloud is arguably the most robust and complete indicator available today. While it does have a higher skill entry point, once you get comfortable with it you’ll be able to determine support and resistance levels, trend direction, volume, liquidity, and market momentum.
Its advocates really consider it to be the all-in-one indicator capable of providing the most information in a single trading tool.
- Moving Average Crossovers
While it may seem overly simplistic, some of the best traders in the world only need a couple of moving averages and volume indicators to determine where or when to open a position.
The moving average crossovers are two (or more) moving averages of different timeframes, for instance, a 50-day MA against a 200-day MA. The logic here is based that while the faster MA determines the recent average price of an asset, the longer timeframe MA represents a longer-period average.
This makes the shorter MA a lot quicker to respond to market movements, allowing investors to potentially determine possible breakouts. Meanwhile, the longer MA filters out useless volatility from the chart. When one line crosses another MA, it may indicate a potential trend reversal.
Quick Tips!
Hardware Requirements for Day Trading
Day traders will need faster-responding machines, meaning that modern and reliable hardware may be the first investments in your investment journey. The first major upgrade you may need to make to your PC would be to get the most amount of RAM possible for your machine.
Think of at least 32GB RAM, a modern mid-to-higher CPU like Intel I7s or I9s, AMD Ryzen 7 or 9, and at least a couple of monitors so you can track several assets at the same time.
Your graphics card needs will mostly depend on how many monitors you plan on running simultaneously. NVIDIA has a line specifically tailored for running several 4K monitors like the Quadro RTX 6000 or Quadro RTX 5000. Remember though, with great GPU power also comes the need for great power supply units, so keep this in mind.
Usually priced above $4,000, these GPUs are definitely on the costlier side. However, with mid-tier cards like the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, or NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, you can get very high-quality graphics for up to 800 bucks, which is not a bad deal at all!
Best Charts and Platforms for Swing Traders
Chart Venues:
- TradingView:
Customizable charts and technical analysis tools, also the largest community online in this niche.
- MetaTrader (MT4/MT5):
Advanced charting, automated trading, and custom indicators.
- ThinkorSwim:
Robust tools and user-friendly interface.
Trading Platforms:
- BloFin:
Advanced tools, high leverage, and comprehensive ecosystem.
- Binance:
One of the most diverse trading options for crypto investors.
- ByBit:
High leverage and TradingView integration.
Conclusion
Whether you’re day or swing trading, getting a robust and reliable setup, setting up a healthy workspace that allows you to get the best analysis possible is the first major step toward a profitable cryptocurrency investment journey.
In the guide analyzing trading setups for day trading vs. swing trading—we covered most of what you’ll need for building a good setup. If you’re interested in learning more about the ins and outs of the market, building up strategies, and a lot more, make sure to check out our exclusive legends community.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or trading advice. Any actions you take based on the information provided are solely at your own risk. We are not responsible for any financial losses, damages, or consequences resulting from your use of this content. Always conduct your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. Read more
