Unlike other types of stock trading and investing, day trading typically involves holding securities for only one day. Day trading is risky and it can be stressful, especially if you’re not prepared. Find out what personality traits you should have if you’re considering a career in day trading, useful websites for Canadian day traders, and a list of the most common mistakes day traders tend to make.

Day traders have expenses. They buy computer equipment, subscribe to research services, pay trading commissions, and hire accountants to prepare their taxes. It adds up, and the tax code recognizes that. That’s why day traders can deduct many of their costs from their income taxes. You’ll make your life as a day trader much easier if you keep track of your expenses as you incur them.

Several vendors have risen to meet the challenge of backtesting (using historical data to reconstruct trades that would have occurred in the past) and simulation so day traders can try out their strategies before they lay down real money. This list is by no means exhaustive, nor is it an endorsement of their services.

Day trading is a cousin to both investing and gambling, but it is not the same as either. Day trading involves quick reactions to the markets, not a long-term consideration of all the factors that can drive an investment. It works with odds in your favor, or at least that are even, rather than with odds that are against you.

Income seems like a straightforward concept, but little about taxation is straightforward. To the IRS, the money you make as a day trader falls into different categories, with different tax rates, different allowed deductions, and different forms to fill out.Don't worry, we're going to cover those here and make it as straightforward as possible.

Day trading income is comprised of capital gains and losses. A capital gain is the profit you make when you buy low and sell high — the aim of day trading. The opposite of a capital gain is a capital loss, which happens when you sell an asset for less than you paid for it. Investors can offset some of their capital gains with some of their capital losses to reduce their tax burden.

After you put your day trading strategy to work during the trading day, it’s easy to let the energy and emotion overtake you. You can get sloppy and stop keeping track of what’s happening. And that’s not good.Day trading is not a video game; it’s a job (to be honest, it would be a pretty terrible video game). Keeping careful records helps you identify not only how well you follow your strategy but also ways to refine it.

If you meet the IRS qualifications for being a day trader, you can avoid some of the tax headaches faced by people who trade but are not considered by the taxman to be traders. If you trade as your job, make thousands of trades a year, and rarely hold any position for more than a day, then you can fill out something called Form 3115, Application for Change in Accounting Method, and tell the IRS that you want to use the mark-to-market election in calculating your capital gains and losses.

For many people, the attraction of day trading is that traders can very much control their own hours. Many markets, like foreign exchange, trade around the clock. And with easy Internet access, day trading seems like a way to make money while the baby is napping, on your lunch hour, or working just a few mornings a week in between golf games and woodworking.