Low-frequency trading (LFT) is trading in which positions are held for days, weeks or months and new orders are placed relatively rarely. The label is used mainly in quantitative finance to sort strategies by trading frequency, setting it against high-frequency trading, which holds positions for seconds or less, and medium-frequency trading, which sits between the two. There are no agreed boundaries, and the terms describe a range.
Low-frequency strategies draw their signals from information that changes slowly, such as company fundamentals, economic data and price trends over months. Factor investing and most trend following fall in this group. Speed of execution matters little, so there is no need for low latency infrastructure. Capacity is large, because positions can be built up gradually. The drawbacks are statistical: with few independent trades each year, it takes a long time to tell whether a strategy works, and each position is exposed to market moves for longer.