Day Trading

First there are two books you should read. Way better than textbooks. The first is called "the math behind wall street".

http://www.amazon.com/Math-Behind-Wall-Street-Market/dp/1568581602/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-9307096-4545628?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177570772&sr=8-1

Then read this one;

http://www.amazon.com/Investing-Dummies-Business-Personal-Finance/dp/0764599038/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-9307096-4545628?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177570661&sr=8-1

If you want to jump into it right away, the University of Arizona has a lot of good materials online. The books are better, but here is the link;

http://www.studyfinance.com/

Read the books. Read the Wall Street Journal every day, highlight the terms you don't understand & look them up online. Google the term "_____ definition".

Finally play the fantasy stock market. It is a cheap way to learn.

Here is that link.

http://www.investopedia.com/

And the guide.

http://simulator.investopedia.com/stock/game/

Buy a Hewlett Packard financial calculator ($40 bucks), & READ THE MANUAL.

If you do this and like it, I'd recommend finance as a major. Although it is pretty intense.

Very cool that you want to learn.

Good luck

Definitions time folks:

Savings – reserve funds invested in a safe vehicle to protect ones assets and receive a small return in exchange for giving up current purchasing power.

Investing – putting capital at calculated risk in order to achieve higher returns.

Trading – Speculating on short term movements of securities prices, involves high levels of personal risks but provides benefits of providing extra liquidity & effecientacy to securities market.

Now professional traders, a) have the financial ability to withstand prolonged periods of losses, b) understand there is no "perfect" method, and c) even if they had found something even bordering on effective, wouldn't distribute it freely as it would dilute the efficacy of their method (And with the current state of the mortgage markets we're learning just how falliable even those "propietary" methods can be).

Sounds like you need to back up. Start building your savings, then your investments. After that, if you must, you can start a trading account. But, honestly I've made far more in two years of investing, than I did in 10 years of trading. (Simple math lesson one, if a stock drops 50%, from that point it has to go up 100% for you to break even — meaning minimize your loses is more vital than maximizing your gains).

Recently, I saw this London Forex Rush program which gives indicators for the Sterling London intra-day trading.

Tried it out and I'm quite impressed but the usefulness. I only use it as a guide at the moment. But it's created for you to use as a complete system.

Check outthis link at TerraNova Online. The Investor platform is an escellent trading tool for a beginner, and is limited to one screen. I use RealTick and five screens, but it costs $250/mo. Ask about a free trial.

http://terranovaonline.com/

A lot of online brokerages claim to give you direct access, but if they take more than a second to execute your trade, it aint direct.

Find the articles online that have evaluated and compared online brokerages. I found a good one online in Barron's, but you'll find others in the trading magazines.

This is worth putting a little time and effort into, because it's a pain to switch, so once you choose, you're kinda stuck with it.

Townsend Electronics, the Parent company of TerraNova, is the one that digitized and electronified the Nasdaq. They are technological industry leaders and have a powerful and well built trading system.

What you should try is a free trial of their Investor platform, which I think is free anyway. Their rates are good also, but of course, it depends on how often you trade. It will take you months to learn all the bells and whistles of what this program can do.

The other top-of-the line program is TradeStation, but it costs big bucks to join and operate. Some people consider it the Cadillac of trading and technical analysis.

TerraNova is the home of the Day Trader, so they think nothing of you making several hundred trades a day. You don't have to do that, but it's okay here if you do.

Read vociferously:
"Which Is Better, Buy-and-Hold or Market Timing?"

"Do You Have What It Takes to Be a Market Timer

The Beginner's Bible in Technical Analysis is:
Edwards & McGee"Tech. Anal. Of Stock Trends"

Droke, ClifTechnical Analysis Simplified

Kahn, Michael N.Tech. Anal. Plain & Simple

Kamich, Bruce M.How Technical Analysis Works

Lefevre, EdwinReminiscences of a Stock Operator

Lofton, ToddGetting Started in Futures

Lowenstein, RogerBuffet (Warren)-The Making of a Capitalist

O'Neil, William J.How to Make Money in Stocks

Oz, TonyHow to Make Money From Wall Street

Rotella, Robert P.Elements of Successful Trading, The

Schwager, JackStock Market Wizards

Schwager, Jack D.New Market Wizards

Sperandeo, VictorTrader Vic-Methods of a Wall Street Master

Wasendorf, RussellAll About Futures

Slutsky, Scot and Darrell JobmanComplete Guide to Electronic Futures Trading

You can get every one of these books from your local library. If they don't have it, ask about Interloan Library System.

If you are new to trading, then you should definitely take a look at trading systems.

Here's why:

Every minute more than 150 Million Dollars change hands in the electronic index futures markets like the e-mini S&P and e-mini NQ. You can win or lose thousands of dollars in a few minutes; the futures markets can make you rich in a few weeks or months or wipe out your account with no mercy.

If you want to compete in the “game of games” and play against the best traders in the world, then you need to get ready. Too many gamblers are entering the arena without any plan or strategy, completely unprepared, and that's why they lose.

Trading a system will dramatically increase your chances to succeed in trading, because it eliminates five of the top six reasons why unprepared traders fail.

Here are the top six reasons why traders fail,
and how a trading system eliminates them

Let's take a look at the reasons why traders lose money:

1. Lack of a Trading Plan
2. Lack of Discipline to Follow the Plan
3. Failure to Control Emotions
4. Failure to Accept and Limit Losses
5. Lack of Commitment
6. Over-Trading

By all means you have to avoid these mistakes if you want to win.

Here's how a trading system eliminates 5 of the 6 top reasons why traders fail:

Solution #1: Having a trading plan

Having a trading system means having a pre-defined set of rules you have developed to guide your trading. Therefore you HAVE a trading plan, eliminating the No.1 cause for failure.

Solution #2: Following the trading plan

The easiest way to follow a trading plan is to automate it. Almost every trading system can be automated, and you could let the computer trade for you. You won't have to worry about your discipline any longer, as the computer mechanically trades every setup for you.

Solution #3: Controlling emotions

Trading with a system removes emotions from trading. If you don't have a strategy and you try to make decisions when the market is moving, you are liable to become emotionally attached to positions. You may experience panic and indecision when the market does not move in your favor, as you do not have a prepared response. That's when most traders lose their money. If you follow a system you will know what to do no matter what the market does.

Solution #4: Controlling your losses

You probably have heard the saying “Let your profits run”. Unfortunately most traders let their losses run. A trading system will get you out of a position when the predefined stop is hit. Unless you override the system to “give the trade a little bit more room” it will stop the loss and therefore limit your losses.

Solution #5: Commitment

You won't believe how many traders show a lack of commitment and therefore lose money. Lack of commitment means that they stop trading after the first loss, and don't give their system a chance to make back the money they lost. Trading is not a one-way street, and losses are part of our business. If you can't accept the fact that there will be losses, you shouldn't trade. Fortunately a trading system can help you to overcome this problem; an automated trading system continues trading according to the rules, and therefore adds much more consistency to your trading.

As you can see, five of the six top reasons why traders lose money in the markets are simply eliminated when you start trading with a system.

Without any guarantee, your chances of making money rise incredibly when starting with a profitable trading system.

Hope that helps.

If you're talking only a few a days, then use short term EMA. EMA is more sensitive to price changes.

You can visit http://stocksguide.checkouttoday.info for some useful tips and info related to your query. Good luck!

If you have time to do it yourself, stick to highly rated mutual funds and ETFs. The key is to be diversified by owning large companies, small companies, bonds, international, etc. in all different industries. This allows you to be a long term investor and ride out short term volatility. Mutual funds and ETFs are the best way to accomplish this.