I hate it when people make this bullshit misleading argument...

I hate it when people make this bullshit misleading argument about tax and always painting traders as 'bad'.

It all depends what your timeframe is and end goal.

If I'm building my retirement egg, waiting 10 years for this to pay me our a sustainable stream of dividends, then buy and hold and that's it.

If I'm saving to buy my first house and want to grow my capital as fast as I can to do so with the aim of selling it in a few years for a deposit, then trying to exploit high-low swings (assuming you're somewhat astute enough to pick it) is a great strategy and 'pips' can really add up over time especially if you only have a small amount of capital to start with.

And as far as the tax bill is concerned - if your aim is to grow your capital and eventually sell then the tax bill is still just proportionate to your gains regardless of how many times you buy and sell. If I buy at 10c sell at 40 then buy back more at 30 then yes I have to pay tax, but then the next time I sell i only pay tax on the rise from 30c, not the rise from 10c. So in some strategies it's actually a more effective way to spread out a tax obligation.


Almost every time someone makes a remark about "investors vs traders" it comes from pettiness and jealousy that traders can squeeze that little bit more value out of the stock (usually from greater input on their end) or from trying to justify to themselves that their own strategy is best by belittling anything different.

Sorry this has come out aimed at you littlecog because it comes out everywhere but doesn't make it any less wrong.