Web Trader MT5
Day trading means transacting in a financial instrument during the same trading day, with all settled out by the end of the trading day. No holding of position overnight nor exposure to whatever may happen when you are asleep.
That is the attraction; as long as the market is open, your risk is limited to those hours, and you go home flat.
The fact is, however, that day trading is difficult. Retail traders are competing with algorithmic systems that execute in microseconds, have access to better information than retail traders, and with other experienced intraday traders who have spent years learning how prices move intraday.
The thin margins are rapidly devoured by transaction costs and slippage, and by emotional decision-making under live market pressure. Research consistently indicates that the majority of retail day traders lose money in the long run.
This is most common in equities, forex, and futures, where liquidity and volatility provide traders with sufficient price action to trade.
Example: At 8:00 a.m., following a weak U.S. jobs report, a trader in London goes long EUR/USD. The pair then rallies 40 pips on the New York open. By noon, the position is closed; good, clean, and flat. Done for the day.
