Day Trading

I am a long term investor and not into daily trading. So this answer below, is probably not teh best answer for what you have asked.

But there will be important pointers to what should also be considered while deciding on the trading platform. So here goes.

I have personal experience with ICICIDirect, HDFC Securities and Motilal Oswal. I don't trade on a daily basis and am a long term investor. So for me brokerage rates don't matter much.

For me what matters are the following:
1. Reliability of the platform -I can transact when I want
2. Correctness in transaction records, account debits, demat credits, shortfall management
3. User-friendliness of interface - you can find what you want quickly
4. Promptness of customer helpdesk in replying to emails
5. Ability to do everything from one single place - like demat account, trading account, and bank account are all managed by the same entity, so there is single place of accountability

Given all these in my experience ICICIDirect still scores the best. It has the highest no of subscribers. It used to have some transaction problems earlier, but over the past year, I cannot recollect instances where I couldn't execute a buy/sell when I wanted it. (HDFC Securities & Motilal OSwal both have miles to go on this front, systems cant keep up with the load on exceptionally high traffic days -jan 22/23). Their User interface is the best, you can locate what to do and where very fast, almost intuitively. Their transaction records are impeccable, you have peace of mind. Couldn't say the same for Motilal Oswal (I had to track and remind them to make good the shortfall when I bought and paid for 20 shares of Wyeth Pharma but demat was only for 16 after a week). And single place of accountability makes sure i deal with the same party and can get things resolved faster.

No matter what arguments you hear against, perhaps the biggest argument in favour of ICICIDirect is that they have been operating these services from 1999. That's close to a decade of experience in handling extremes of load, variety of software and technical issues, customer complaints , and have matured over the years.

The others may give you cheaper brokerage rates (and that matters if you are a day trader) but have much more to cover before they can reach similar levels of maturity as a service provider.

My 2 cents. Hope they were useful & happy investing!

Nope, never heard of it till you mentioned it sorry.

Welll..i would suggest u not to involve yourself with Day trading if you are just starting up investing in stock..also beware of yourself with the derivatives…..
if u have are thinking about earning some money out of your investment u need to think and act smartly..by investing for midterm and long term…all the transactions(buying and selling that u do must result in a positive long term investment…i mean your short term trading must ensure that your long term investment goals are achieved.for this remember these things carefully while trading …

when it comes to making profit..it depends on ones strategy of investing…
people can make good money if they invest properly …and if ones foolish and more greedy he might loose out every thing…things always happen in extremes in stock markets…
remember this one thing before investing….
dont hurry ur self…think about the stock fundamentals(like its financials like balance sheet or in simpler terms the profits that it made during recent times..its managing style..people in the business…competetors industry as whole etc)
when once u feel that the stock is fundamentally good..then u move on to technical aspects like how is the stock performing in recent times..take the history of atleast past 3 months…and then invest if u feel thats good..u can get the recommendations in investment channels like CNBC watch it carefully during the market hours.
when u invest u have to watch the price carefully..keep a target level..say fro example u bought it at 100..keep a target for that stock say 130…sell it at that level..i dont recommend u to sell it entirely(in bullish market when the market is goin up..sell a partial amount of your holding..and when the market is falling down..book the entire profit by selling it…)
then u can pick another stock…
even while buying the stock its necessary for u to pick up the stock when ever the market is down..it has to be systematic..by this u can average out ur buying price…by doing this u can average the price..if u see n compare the total market movement..which will be more profitable….
i hope ive given u sufficient information to start off..feel free to ask if anythin else is necessary…
Happy investing…!!!!!!

DO NOT DAY TRADE THINKING YOU'LL GET RICH QUICK.

It is true that 80% of all day traders eventually lose all their money. Then again, about 60% of the remaining 20% make enough to live off of or at least provide a second income. The remaining 40% steadily lose money.

The keys to success in day trading (% of importance):

1) money management - knowing how much to bet on each stock, when to take profits, and when to cut losses (40%)

2) emotional control - patience, not acting out of greed or fear, never averaging down, only buying high probability set-ups, etc. (35%)

3) a good system - knowing when to enter and when to exit (25%)

You'll notice that the system is the least important factor for success. Almost any system is profitable (although some much more than others), but the real important part is whether you can actually use it correctly or not. It might not match your personality, for example. Also, if you don't manage your money correctly, you can go bankrupt on even the best system in the world.

Unless you have amazing emotional control, have a natural inborn talent for trading (I've never met anyone like this, though), or have a brilliantly flexible mind that adapts quickly, you will most likely steadily lose money day trading for at least the first few months.

The worst part about getting started in day trading is that there's very little way to tell if you'd be successful before you actually start buying stocks and losing (or making) money. Paper trading is not even close to the same as real trading, because there's no emotion involved, or commissions or slippage.

On the other hand, once you have reached the right point, the rewards can be substantial. It took me 15 months of swing trading and staring at computer screens all day long and three months of day trading (losing 50% of my entire equity in the process) before I turned the corner. Now, I can quite conservatively double my money each year (but notice it took me a year to recover from the first year and a half). That's probably a typical story. If you read about Stock Market Wizards by Jack D. Schwager, you'll notice that almost every master trader went bankrupt at one point or another.

Most people quit before they reach this point, and I'd be the first to agree that day trading is not for everyone, or even for most people.

Also, remember this: any person with a truly successful and profitable day trading system would never sell or share it. You can make much more money using a winning system than selling it. Okay, maybe 10% of the systems out there are legitimate, but you'll never know which 10% until you've bought it and lost lots of money on it.

Be careful when looking for winning systems, and always look for a money-back guarantee.

The key to success is not the system the person uses so much as it is the person using the system.

One last word of advice: Unless you're willing to sacrifice thousands of hours in front of the computer and thousands of dollars, and able to stand the emotional and financial pain you will endure, then don't even start.

Very complicated, very stressful and can be lucritive if you are good at it. I would recomment you play a simulation first to see how good you are at it. Also think about the tax system you will use before you start, or else you will find yourself trying to match thousands of trade tickets next year.

There is no outright requirement to be a day trader.

Generally, you need to trade on margin. it is not really the same as margin generally.

Margin is taking a loan from a stock broker to buy more securities.

With day trading, you are borrowing money from your broker because the cash you receive from a trade takes a few days to clear.

The current market exists on a T+3 system it can take up to 3 days fro money and shares to actually change hands.

So to continue to trade on money you do not yet have, youborrow it. Unlike regular margin, there is not the same degree of risk invivled with normal margin purchases.

Some brokers let you do this without a margin accont because their getting the money is a sure thing and they still profit off of you from the commissions.

There is neither a publicly known system, nor can there be one. Assume you discover a system, and let everyone know. Now, whenever the magic point is near EVERYONE jumps on, destroying the magic point and crushing the system. Supposedly the Motley Fool has such a system, published it, and watched it destroyed within weeks.

So, simply put, if a system is publicly known, it will not consistently work.

Other than that, buy low, sell high, will always work.

Intra-day trading is certainly for professionals. It takes a lot of committment but it is very possible for you to earn a great living. But it is just as easy to lose it all.

It requires a lot of time in front of the computer.

Basically if you want ot day trade - in and out of a trade on the same day - well you have to be dependent on technicals as well as any news that the market is awaiting or is absorbing. and for private investors this up to date news is hard to obtain.

Technical charting day charts - make sure you have all the indicators in your system present as well as all the time scales that only cover the day: ticks. 1 minute, 2 minute, 5 minute, 1/2 hour, 1 hour.

Not all indicators work in this short term environment.

KOTAK SECURITIES

Please ignore the above REPORTED spam artist. I am an investment advisor of thirty years, hold all the 'tickets' NYSE #7, CBOT #3, Options Principal #4 and others … I have yet to see a program that works consistently. I have seen and used several programs that work exceptional well if the user fully understands what the program is designed to do. Sadly, too many outfits go on TV and the Internet touting Commodity, FOREX, Options, Stocks, Day trading, and other programs and systems that may be a usable product for an educated investor and make all kind of glowing promises to novices that really don't have much chance at success unless they get really educated real fast before their risk money runs out.

send an email if you like and I will give you names of a couple of these that are worth investigation. I don't sell any of them and have no affiliation with the companies. Good Luck, Good Fortune, and Keep those very wary eyes WIDE OPEN!!