Don't believe advertising claims that promise quick and sure profits from day trading. The NASDAQ officially defines "pattern day trading" as placing four or more round-trip orders over a five-day period. Day Traders utilize high amounts of leverage and short-term trading strategies to capitalize on small price movements in highly liquid stocks or currencies. Risk management is crucial if you want to have any hope of becoming a successful trader. Even if you`re starting out with a small day trading float, you should practice good money management. Generally, a day trader should have enough day trading capital to buy at least 1000 shares of any given stock on any particular day. A novice day trader should normally have day trading capital of at least $20,000 to start, so this is not a business to undertake lightly. You need to trade stocks which will not make it hard for you to exit your day trading position quickly at a fair price. A day trader will rarely hold a tock overnight as there are many other opportunities and a stock that takes hours to move is not worth holding. The benefit of day-trading can be summed up with one word: control. Day trading has become an online phenomenon in the last year which has resulted in manuals and courses on how to successfully day trade. Although day trading has become somewhat of a controversial phenomenon, its prevalence is undeniable. While day trading has become popular, the characterizing of day trading as another mode of investing may be overstated. Limiting your losses when day trading is by far more important than making big profits. For the sophisticated investor day trading may be safe since such investors know what they are doing and are willing to absorb the risk of losing money. Day trading is not a get rich quick business.