Why is daytrading painted to be this oh so hard "you cant win" game ?

Question

Personally I would find it far harder to invest over the long run than to predict what a stock does the next 15 min, unless you are shorting an obvious top or something (cnbc cheering and orgasmin). Does somebody feel similiar ?

Answer 1

No.

Answer 2

I think the best way to go about it is to follow the trends in the economy in relation to the stock.

Invest when the economy is crappy and sell when the economy is booming. That's how you make big profits.

The longer you own a stock, the more time it has to go up in price. If you bought shares in DELL when it first started and sold them at the end of the week.. you wouldn't make much. But if you sold them in the late 90's.. that's BIG BUCKS.

Answer 3

The taxes on short term gains and transaction costs can eat up a lot of profits, since you are only making a couple of points per stock.

Answer 4

It is certainly not easy because people like you and me don't move markets quickly.  Nobody knows what the market is going to do over the next 15 minutes and if bad news comes out you are SOL.  Trends are more predictable when you look over long periods of time.  You can win day trading but I would argue it is harder than investing for the long run.

Answer 5

the taxes on daytrading hurts it.