What is Day Trading?
Day trading is the buying and selling of a financial instrument (stock, currency, futures, options, etc., etc.) on a daily basis. True day trading involves the opening and closing of a position on the same business day. For example, a day trader can buy a stock at 11.00 AM Eastern Time ( after the United States stock market opens) and then sell it an hour later. The number of transactions that a day trader executes during a single trading day depends greatly on the trading style or system that the trader is using as well as the behavior of the market on that particular day (if the market frequently moves up and down on a consistent basis, this will generate more transactions or trades). Although stock day trading is still the most popular form of day trading in the world, restrictive regulations during the late nineties has caused many traders to flock to other markets like the forex (foreign exchange) market.

Day traders usually buy and sell securities during the same market day and, as a general rule, do not hold stocks overnight. They are therefore said to be "flat" at the end of the day. Many day traders make dozens of trades every market day hoping to capture profits that arise from small intraday price fluctuations.


Day Trading Training
Day trading training involves the process where the potential trader (or day-trader-in-training) is trained to increase his /her probability of being successful in day trading. The training should make the day trader familiar with the day trading platform he/she will use as well as equip them with techniques and strategies of when to buy, when to sell, how to set stop losses, etc. The coaching and experience received in this training are essential in empowering the day trader to succeed. Day trading training should not just involve the reading of books . It should also include plenty of paper trading on a live simulator and, if possible, one-on-one mentoring from a day trading trainer.

Common Day Trading Pitfalls When Executing Trades:
There are a number of things that can go wrong when you day trade stocks over which you may have little or no control. These form part of the risks associated with day trading of which you should be aware. Here are some of the common pitfalls encountered by many day traders relating to the execution of trades:

Execution of your orders are delayed due to order backlog or technical problems causing you to be filled at a higher price than you intended to pay.
You enter the wrong stock symbol when placing your order online.
You may lose track of the many orders you have placed during the day.
Your online broker's Web site goes down during the day and you cannot complete your trades.
Crossed or locked prices may occur for a period of time during which orders are not executed at all.
Failure or delays of real time data feeds can cause you to take an mistaken view of market conditions.
You misread a price quote and enter an order on the basis of this mistaken quote.
Your ISP goes down during the day leaving you without an Internet connection.
You place a market order as the price falls and find your order executed minutes later at a higher price because of the large backlog in unfilled orders for the stock.

Day Trading Risk Management
When most people start day trading, they do not think about the risk that they are taking - they will be thinking only about the potential rewards. Every day trading strategy must take into consideration the maximum percentage of the total trading capital that should be risked in any one transaction. In fact, a day trader's ability to limit the loss is just as important as the success in managing & winning trades.