Risks with short term trading

Risks

Short term Trading Risks

Be prepared to suffer severe financial losses

Intraday traders typically suffer severe financial losses in their first months of trading, and many never graduate to profit-making status. Given these outcomes, it’s clear: intraday traders should only risk money they can afford to lose. They should never use money they will need for daily living expenses, retirement, take out a second mortgage, or use their student loan money for day trading.

Intraday traders do not “invest”

Intraday traders sit in front of computer screens and look for a stock that is either moving up or down in value. They want to ride the momentum of the stock and get out of the stock before it changes course. They do not know for certain how the stock will move, they are hoping that it will move in one direction, either up or down in value. True intraday traders do not own any stocks overnight because of the extreme risk that prices will change radically from one day to the next, leading to large losses.

Intraday trading is an extremely stressful and expensive full-time job

Intraday traders must watch the market continuously during the day at their computer terminals. It’s extremely difficult and demands great concentration to watch dozens of ticker quotes and price fluctuations to spot market trends. Day traders also have high expenses, paying their firms large amounts in commissions, for training, and for computers. Any intraday trader should know up front how much they need to make to cover expenses and break even.

Intraday traders depend heavily on borrowing money or buying stocks on margin

Borrowing money to trade in stocks is always a risky business. Intraday trading strategies demand using the leverage of borrowed money to make profits. This is why many day traders lose all their money and may end up in debt as well. Intraday traders should understand how margin works, how much time they’ll have to meet a margin call, and the potential for getting in over their heads.