For most investors, the best way to grow their money, be it a $10,000 investment or a $20 one, is over the long term.
Is day trading gambling?
It's fair to say that day trading and gambling are very similar. The dictionary definition of gambling is "the practice of risking money or other stakes in a game or bet." When you place a day trade, you're betting that the random price movements of a particular stock will trend in the direction that you want.
In the same way that expert poker players study and practice relentlessly to excel at the game, the few successful day traders (who may be at institutions) tend to be extremely well-versed in how markets move in the short term. If a novice poker player were to challenge a table of experts, he or she may conceivably win one or two hands but would almost certainly lose money overall. While day trading is not precisely the same as gambling, one thing remains true about the practice: Most of the time, it is not profitable.