Day Trading
Day trading is defined as the purchase and sale of a security within a single trading day. It can occur in any marketplace but is most common in the foreign exchange and stock markets. Day trading is often characterized by technical analysis and requires a high degree of self-discipline and objectivity. Day traders are typically well-educated and well-funded. They use high amounts of leverage and short-term trading strategies to capitalize on small price movements in highly liquid stocks or currencies.
Day traders use numerous intraday strategies. These strategies include:
- Scalping, which attempts to make numerous small profits on small prices changes throughout the day
- Range trading, which primarily uses support and resistance levels to determine their buy and sell decisions
- News-based trading, which typically seizes trading opportunities from the heightened volatility around news events
- High-frequency trading (HFT) strategies that use sophisticated algorithms to exploit small or short-term market inefficiencies