There seems to be a lot of confusion, misconception and misunderstanding about day trading and its advantages as well as disadvantages. Some people even say that it is a form of gambling. In this topic I want to explain why it is not and also address the most common issues which day traders encounter and how they handle them. Thank you for your attention.
First of all, day trading is no more gambling than any other trading. If the price rises you ride the wave, if it doesn't you wait until it does. That's pretty much all. In this sense, if day trading is gambling, then all trading is essentially gambling. Besides, arbitrage is also day trading which involves quite a few trades (actually, twice as many) albeit it is anything but gambling.
Further, there is a question of limited profitability. This question has some substance but it seems that people who raise it don't fully understand what day trading comes down to. Many erroneously think that it is mostly about missing good profit opportunities. In fact, nothing can be farther from truth than that. Day trading if done right is actually about maximizing your profits, not losing them.
Statistically, your best trading strategy would be capitalizing on both short-term volatility and long-term growth. Since most price moves happen in a rather narrow range followed by relatively rare but big price changes, an optimal strategy would be dividing your trading capital into parts, smaller parts for catching short-term volatility, while bigger parts for capitalizing on longer-term growth.
You are correct in what you write, but the reasons those misconceptions exist at all has to do with the irresponsibility of many of those that day trade, day trading can be extremely profitable but there are those that engage in the activity despite their limited knowledge and as you may expect their results are very poor this leads them to conclude that day trading is like gambling even if that is not the case.
True, but the same can be said with regard to long-term holding as well. Ironically, people who first thoughtlessly engage in day trading quickly turn into holders and investors, sort of, when the price goes strongly against them and they don't quickly close their position. They are hunting for small profits completely oblivious to the risk they expose themselves to. They may earn here and there, and then short but powerful price move eats all their "hard-earned" profits leaving them eternally in red. This is why most people should likely stay away from day trading altogether.