FoundationsMAD Academy0:58Risk

Same Stock, Three Clocks

How the holding period, more than the stock, decides the costs, the gap exposure, the margin rules and the tax treatment.

0:58 · 7 scenes

This lesson is part of a MAD Academy plan.

What the Lesson Covers

  1. 0:00Three traders can hold the same stock and face three different sets of risks.
  2. 0:05The three horizons. Day traders are flat by the close. Swing traders hold for days or weeks. Position traders hold for months.
  3. 0:15The cost arithmetic. At a twentieth of a percent per round trip, five hundred trades a year cost a quarter of the position. Twenty trades cost one percent.
  4. 0:25The gap a stop cannot catch. A swing trade held overnight can open well below its stop. The stop then fills at the first available price, wherever that is.
  5. 0:35The day-trading margin rules. The twenty-five thousand dollar day-trading minimum ended in June 2026. Margin accounts now answer to intraday margin on what they hold.
  6. 0:44The tax clock. Gains on holdings of a year or less are generally short-term. That is a description of the mechanics, and never tax advice.
  7. 0:53The horizon comes first. The risks, the costs and the rules follow from it.
MAD AcademyYou hold No active plan

This section is part of MAD Academy

The whole course, with live boards to practice on. Learn the market properly.

What Academy includes

  • Every training video the plan opens, all 305 lessons across 20 subjects
  • A Start Here path for newcomers, and every subject's lessons in order from Foundations to Advanced
  • Your progress, your trophies and your next lesson, tracked on your own Academy home
  • Every concept guide, all 24 trading set-ups and the 151-term glossary
  • The real-time Market Dashboard, Premium Scanner and Pro Charting, on the same feed every member plan reads
  • Heatmap and sectors, inside the member platform with your lessons rather than beside it
  • Unlimited watchlists, in the drawer on every tab and on the scanner and chart
  • The real-time Market News Feed, narrowed to your own watchlist in one click

Not included

  • No premium alerts, MAD Setups, alert archive or performance record
  • No personalized dashboard: My Dashboard starts at Analysis Tools Only
  • No research desk: Corporate Events and Institutional Ownership start at Analysis Tools Only
  • No product tutorials or Deep-Dives, which come with Premium Membership
  • No MCP Connector: connecting an AI app starts at Analysis Tools Only

Add MAD Academy

$39per month

or $279 per year (about $23.25 a month)

Start MAD AcademyPay yearly instead

Or get both

Premium Membership

$0for 5 days

then $149 per month, or $1,099 per year. Tools and Alerts together cost $188 a month bought separately.

Start 5 days free

Card required. After 5 days it is $149 per month or $1,099 per year until you cancel. First-time members only.

Compare every plan on the pricing page
Educational content only. MadStockAlerts provides market commentary, research, and educational content. It is not personalized investment advice, and nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Trading and investing involve substantial risk, including loss of capital. See the Risk Disclosure and Customer Agreement.
Educational content only. MadStockAlerts provides market commentary, research, and educational content. It is not personalized investment advice, and nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Trading and investing involve substantial risk, including loss of capital. See the Risk Disclosure and Customer Agreement.
Same Stock, Three Clocks — MAD Academy Training Video · MadStockAlerts