Daytrading Stocks
Despite the glamorous image sometimes portrayed in the media, daytrading stocks is not an easy way to make a living. The modern version of the daytrader is an algorithm trader tooled up with servers in the stock exchange exploiting microsecond delays in information and execution, also known as high-frequency traders.
But this category includes professionals and doesn't account for most individual traders who daytrade stocks for a living. While these traders have many more and better tools available to them today then back in the 1990s, this has not made their job any easier since everyone else has the same trading software, fancy charts, and cheap online brokerage rates as well. Understanding the intricate intraday "herding patterns" and profiting from them is an art and science that can take decades to perfect and exploit.