Holding period
How does the length of time a position is held change which risks it faces?
In plain words
Holding period is how long a position stays open before it is closed. A short holding period exposes a position to intraday price paths and timing; a long holding period exposes it more to trend, funding costs, and structural shifts.
Why it matters
Different risks dominate at different horizons. A day holder is harmed by a sharp adverse move even if the price later recovers; a weekly holder can tolerate intraday swings but faces the cumulative effect of funding payments and multi-day trend reversals.
In a real week: ETH, week of 25 July 2022
ETH's week of 25 July 2022 shows the split. Across the week the range was 31.61%, with a low of 1356.17 on Tuesday and a high of 1784.79 on Thursday, and realised volatility was 98.6% a year. Over the full week ETH closed up 5.03% at 1678.12. A one-day holder on Monday faced a -9.82% daily loss; a week-long holder ended positive despite that.
A common mistake
Judging an intraday position by the week's net return, or a long-term position by a single day's swing, since each horizon carries different risks.