[Alberta's Child]

I agree with Post #3. Most people who trade their own stocks end up losing their shirts, due to a combination of ignorance, brokerage fees, and income taxes. Most novice traders, for example, don't realize that if they hold a stock for less than 12 months their "gains" are treated as income (tax rate as high as 36% or more), as opposed to capital gains that have a maximum tax rate of 20%.

[joesbucks]

While I have no desire to pay taxes and especially 36% vs 20%, there are some stocks that seem to trade within a certain range. If I can get a 10% return over a few days or a week, I'd be more than happy to give a third of it up, and do that several times, rather than wait a whole year for a 10% return and only pay 20%. I'm still $$ ahead.