Can Day Trading Pay?

Back in the bad old days of the dot-combubble, the business media over-flowed with stories about day traders whowere racking up thousands of dollars inprofits every time they fired up their computers.But when the stock marketstopped going up almost every day andlater tanked, most day traders flamed out.Studies from the University of Californiaconfirm the bad news; day traders usuallylose. And even though the most activetraders tend to do better, they typicallystill lose money because of high commissioncosts. The studies also show that daytrading is not for dabblers; the tiny minoritywho comes out ahead includes thosewho are willing to invest the brainpowerand overwhelming amount of time necessaryto learn the ropes.