History of online day trading
The birth of day trading was made possible when the computerized, over-the-counter NASD became available in 1971. Day trading was pretty much the domain of stock brokers and remained that way until the late 1990s, when the increasing popularity of the internet, motivated the international stock markets to move online.
The consequence of this move was that day trading brokers became optional because anybody with Web access could execute their own trades, provided that they had an account with a registered online brokerage. The uptake was enormous, because by 1999, at least 25% of all trades made were done as online trading by individual investors. Day trading online grew in popularity as these investors started gaining online trading maturity. This growth found further impetus with the Dot Com Bubble as many traders could buy and sell the same share on the same day with three digit returns.
What is day trading?
The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations defines day trading as “Placing multiple buy and sell orders for securities and holding positions for a very short period of time, usually minutes or a...