what is near term 
the near term is a period of time not far into the future the term is used to describe events that may occur soon in finance the term is often used to explain the timeframe during which an event or change is expected to occur traders will often use the term near term when expecting a price move to happen in the near future or when a trade is taken for only a small amount of time understanding near termfinancial market analysts and traders may use near term in reference to events that may be coming up in the near future such as company earnings or a price move in a stock that is expected soon if an event or a price move is not expected for a while then that event doesn t occur in the near term similarly a day trader or swing trader will typically be taking near term trades those are trades that have a short duration this is in direct contrast to a long term trader who buys assets and holds them for an extended period of time near term investments or trades include buying any asset with the intention of only holding it for a few weeks possibly months or less also a trader may buy options or futures with a near term expiry which makes it a short term trade buying a bond close to maturity makes it a near term bond purchase there is no definitive time frame on what the near term is some may refer to the near term as anything less than a few months a day trader may refer to the near term as the next five or ten minutes in economics the near term may refer to a level of growth in a common indicator such as gross domestic product gdp inflation consumer spending or the cost of labor as an example the federal reserve may monitor the near term level of weekly employment data to gauge whether or not to change interest rate policy at an upcoming meeting it is near term data because it comes out weekly congress may be waiting to receive the monthly trade deficit numbers before deciding whether to pass related economic legislation since the data is released monthly waiting to see what the next one or two data points say would be considered the near term 