investing / trading / stockmarket / algotrading / quant
Ranking Every Trading Strategy
Austin ranks five ways of investing in the stock market, from S tier to F tier, and explains each call. Day trading lands in F tier: the competition is tough, stocks do not move much intraday, and he argues it is not worth it for the vast majority of people. Swing trading is B tier, better than day trading but not the best use of your time. Value investing is C tier, because most value stocks are cheap for a reason. Intel and PayPal are the worked example: measured on weekly closes from September 2021 to August 2026, INTC closed below its 2021 price for 233 of 260 weeks and did not climb back above it until April 2026, while PYPL spent 259 of 260 weeks underwater and has not recovered.
Index funds take A tier and only miss S tier because the major indexes are now heavily weighted toward a handful of large technology companies, so a drawdown in those names is felt across almost every retirement account. Multi-factor investing is the one strategy he puts in S tier, with the caveat that it is F tier for anyone unwilling to learn the underlying numbers. Multi-factor screening and backtesting are what NexusTrade is built for.
Transcript
0:00Day trading.
0:01S tier, if you're selling courses.
0:03F tier otherwise.
0:05The competition is way too tough, and stocks don't even move that much during the day.
0:09That space is full of fake gurus.
0:11It's not worth it for 99% of people.
0:14Swing trading.
0:15B tier.
0:16It is better than day trading, and it can genuinely work.
0:20There are still better options out there though.
0:22Value investing?
0:24C tier.
0:24Most value stocks are cheap for a reason.
0:27Stocks like Intel and PayPal stay down for years, and you never know when you're going to see a return on your investment.
0:33If you're right, and you do great due diligence, it can be A tier.
0:37For most people, they're just regurgitating what other people say.
0:40Buying index funds?
0:42A tier.
0:43The best strategy is the simplest.
0:45Buy the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq ETFs.
0:48Buy as much as you can, as often as you can.
0:50And don't worry about timing the market.
0:52I'd put it in S tier, but because the indexes are mostly made up of Mag 7 stocks, when the AI bubble pops, everybody's 401(k) is going to feel it, no matter what.
1:02Multi-factor investing?
1:04S tier, if you want to make real returns in the stock market.
1:08F tier, if you don't want to go to school, and learn about a bunch of numbers.
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