Listen up ppl! Day trading is a losing game b/c you're trading the wrong instrument.
Take your common everyday non-blue chip stock that lures in maybe 1-2 investor/trader a day. They got a big problem convicing those interested to chip in if they don't manufature social proof (buying and selling from their various accounts to create the appearance of volume). Could you imagine how their stock would look if there were only 1-2 real trades per day? If they don't create 100 fake trades, nobody's going buy.
So, you the trader pitch in, thinking you'll make a killing. At whatever price you bought, the computer that manufactures fake volume "knows". So, say you buy in at 10.00 and hoping to get out at 10.50. You think that computer's gonna mark the price up, just so you can get out at 10.50? Wrong!
What the computer will do is mark down the price by 10% or more in the hope of squeezing you out and making 10% off of you. After you sell, the computer will then mark the price up 5-10% from where you bought (this would be 10.50-11.00), hoping either you're stupid enough to buy back in thinking the price will go up higher, or some other sucker comes along and takes the shares at 11.00 (that the computer bought from you at 9.00 after the 10% squeeze out).
Then, the cycle of (trader) abuse repeats itself, which is why you'll see random squiggly lines on the daily chart.
But, if it is a sector play that is just about to become hot, the computer will do whatever it takes to squeeze you out, but -- after each squeeze, the price is made to climb higher and higher in sych with the sector.
So, you can see, day trading is definitely a losing game when the ratio of false:real volume is very high. But, if you're trading something like CL, where fakes:real trades are low, the computer loses its edge --- which means that if you're skilled enough, you can beat the computer at games like CL and make money!