Day Trading Questions
 

There is a particular stock that i own that flucuates about 4% a day. I have an etrad account and was wonder what some of the rules/laws are about day trading. I just opened my accout not to long ago and am new to this.

I know its a risky move but i was wondering if i can sell my stock when it is high and then when it goes back down buy it again, during the same day. Can i do this multiple times in a day? If i could i think i could actually make some more money on this stock. Instead of just holding on to it and doing nothing it is just staying where i bought it at.

Any help or advice is appreciated.

No law against it but you're going to pay a commission (obviously) every time you make a trade so you need to be making enough that the commission doesn't eat up all your profits.

My advice would be to go to Vegas and let it ride on black every time. All kidding aside, if you have some discretionary income that you want to gamble with (which is essentially what your doing) go for it just be prepared to lose money, timing the market is incredibly difficult even for the pro's.

^^^+1

+ It will drive you crazy!

Make sure its money you have to lose. Day trading is very risky. High Risk, High Reward.

Do some research, there are some rules...

Pattern Day Trading Rules - you have to have 25,000, if you are making 4 or more trades in 5 business days.

Free-Riding Rules - you cant sell a stock before you have it paid for. different settlement dates are in place as well.

Avoid Margin if your new to trading. It gets messy very quickly.

I use to know a guy who was a big time day traded. Said for it to really be worth your while you need to have at least 50k a day in trades. The guy would drive himself nuts. Think of it this way, if you lose 50k trading today, that means tomorrow you not only need 50k to make the days trades, but you also need to make up the 50k you lost yesterday. He was very sucessful when he was up, but when he was down I think he claimed bankruptcy 5-6 times and he is only in his mid 60s now....

Im young and mosty in DRIPS and other long term stocks and I had the low yeilds on the short, but its a heck of a lot better than the bank interest rates and I always tell my older buddies that I want to get my hands on some big money making stocks and they all say with high reward comes high risk, so you better be prepared to lose whatever you want to risk.

So by making just one trade a day every single day would make you a pattern day trader? That is what i was curious about. And i dont feel like losing 25K or even have 25k to invest. Guess ill just hang onto the stock.

Just hang onto it and keep throwing money at it. My small stocks $25-$35/share stocks that pretty much only make small moves up and down I hold onto for long term. I take 10-15% of my weekly before tax salary and divide it up amongst all my small share stocks every week. Youd be amazed how quick it adds up at the end of the year. Banks are paying a fraction of a perfect in interest, so even if this stock in question is making you 1% a month its better than sitting in the bank