A day trader is two things, a hunter of volatility and a manager of risk. The act of day trading is simply buying shares of a stock with the intention of selling those shares for a profit within minutes or hours. In order to profit in such a short window of time day traders will typically look for volatile stocks. This often means trading shares of companies that have just released news, reported earnings, or have another fundamental catalyst that is resulting in above average retail interest. The type of stocks a day trader will focus on are typically much different from what a long term investor would look for. Day traders acknowledge the high levels of risk associated with trading volatile markets and they mitigate those risks by holding positions for very short periods of time.