7 Different Types of Crypto Traders

What Type of Crypto Trader Are You? A Guide to 7 Common Trading Styles

Your cryptocurrency trading style is shaped by several factors—available capital, trading frequency, risk tolerance, and long-term financial goals. As the crypto market continues to evolve, understanding your personal trading style is more important than ever for building effective strategies.

In this article, we explore seven of the most common types of crypto traders. Whether you’re just starting out or refining your approach, this guide will help you identify the trading style that best fits your behavior, risk profile, and market outlook.

Understanding the Two Core Approaches: Long-Term vs. Short-Term Trading

Before diving into specific trader types, it’s important to distinguish between the two fundamental approaches: long-term investing and short-term trading.

Long-term traders (also known as investors) focus on holding assets over extended periods—months or even years—waiting for the value of a cryptocurrency to increase significantly. These traders typically buy during market dips and hold through volatility, only selling when prices hit substantial highs.

Short-term traders, by contrast, aim to profit from small price movements over much shorter timeframes—minutes, hours, or days. These traders capitalize on market volatility and require strong technical analysis skills and real-time decision-making. Their edge comes from speed and responsiveness, allowing them to limit losses and react swiftly to market shifts.

With these foundational strategies in mind, let’s explore the subcategories that define different crypto trading personas.

• Scalp Trader

Scalp trading is a high-frequency strategy where traders execute dozens—or even hundreds—of trades per day. The goal is to capture small profits from tiny price movements. Scalpers often aim for gains as low as 0.1% to 0.5% per trade, exiting quickly once their targets are hit.

This approach appeals to traders who thrive in fast-paced environments and can commit significant time to monitoring price action. It’s ideal for markets with strong liquidity and minimal slippage.

Key Traits: Fast execution, low risk per trade, high screen time Best for: Traders looking to make consistent, small gains with minimal drawdowns

• Position Trader

A position trader takes a long-term view, holding crypto assets for weeks, months, or even years. This strategy prioritizes fundamental analysis over short-term price swings and is best suited for traders with patience and conviction in the long-term growth of specific cryptocurrencies.

Position traders make relatively few trades each month but aim for larger returns—often targeting 50–100% or more annually.

Key Traits: High patience, fundamental-driven, minimal trading frequency Best for: Long-term investors with a strong thesis on crypto growth

• Day Trader

Day traders enter and exit trades within the same day, profiting from intraday volatility. They rely heavily on technical indicators, chart patterns, and real-time news to make quick decisions.

While day trading can offer substantial gains, it also requires discipline, emotional control, and strict risk management—especially when using leverage.

Key Traits: High discipline, quick reflexes, risk/reward focus Best for: Traders with time to monitor markets daily and a strong grasp of technical analysis

• Swing Trader

Swing traders aim to profit from short- to medium-term price movements, typically holding positions for a few days to a few weeks. They enter trades based on technical setups and often wait for trend confirmations before committing capital.

Swing trading allows for flexibility—it requires less screen time than day trading but still offers the potential for significant returns.

Key Traits: Trend-focused, patient, moderately active Best for: Traders seeking a balance between long-term investing and active trading

• Range Trader

Range traders operate within well-defined support and resistance levels. They buy at the bottom of the range and sell near the top, capitalizing on repetitive market behavior.

This method is effective in sideways or consolidating markets and depends on strong technical analysis. Discipline is key, as reacting to false breakouts can lead to losses.

Key Traits: Technically savvy, risk-aware, patient Best for: Traders who excel at identifying predictable price ranges

• Diversified Trader

A diversified trader spreads investments across multiple crypto assets to reduce risk and capture broader market opportunities. This type of trader often holds positions in at least 10 different cryptocurrencies, aiming to offset losses in one asset with gains in another.

Diversification also helps reduce exposure to high volatility in any single coin and is aligned with portfolio-building strategies rather than active day trading.

Key Traits: Risk averse, long-term focused, strategic Best for: Investors building a resilient portfolio for the long haul

• HODLer - Holding Trader

HODLers—a term born from a famous crypto forum typo meaning “Hold On for Dear Life”—are long-term believers in cryptocurrency. They often hold through bear markets, confident that their assets will increase in value over time.

HODLing requires emotional strength and conviction, especially during periods of high volatility or negative market sentiment.

Key Traits: Emotionally resilient, conviction-driven, passive Best for: Long-term crypto believers willing to weather market cycles

Which Crypto Trader Type Are You?

Recognizing your crypto trading personality is a powerful step toward making smarter, more intentional trading decisions. It helps define your strategy, manage your expectations, and build the tools and routines that work best for you.

Whether you're a scalper seeking rapid profits or a HODLer betting on the future of decentralized finance, aligning your trading strategy with your personality and risk tolerance is key to long-term success.

Next Steps: Tools to Match Your Trading Style

Once you've identified your trader type, it’s time to equip yourself with the right tools. Platforms like Flipster offer low-fee trading, ultra-low spreads, and advanced features designed for both short-term and long-term traders:

• Earn USDT passively while you trade—Flipster Earn rewards traders with yield not only on idle balances but also on active trading positions.

• Up to 100× leverage for experienced traders

• Over 350 trading pairs including BTC, ETH, and trending altcoins

Discover how Flipster can support your crypto trading journey—no matter your style. Sign up and start trading smarter today.

Disclaimer: This material is for information purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Flipster makes no recommendations or guarantees in respect of any digital asset, product, or service. Trading digital assets and digital asset derivatives comes with significant risk of loss due to its high price volatility, and is not suitable for all investors.