Trading Insights

Check out our latest day trading guides, tutorials, and resources.

What is a Bull Trap?

A bull trap is a price movement that lures bullish investors into thinking that the price of a stock is about to rise. In reality, any upward movement is short-lived and quickly overtaken by bearish activity, causing traders who bought into the bull trap to lose...

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What are Momentum Stocks?

Momentum stocks offer opportunities for traders to ride a wave of price action for short-term profits. However, to trade momentum stocks successfully, it’s important to recognize momentum early on and know when to exit a trade. In this guide, we’ll explain what...

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What are ECNs?

ECNs, or electronic communication networks, are computerized networks in which traders can trade directly with one another. ECNs have several advantages, including tighter spreads and more options for after-hours trading. However, they can also have drawbacks such as...

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Guide to Unusual Options Activity

Unusual options activity occurs when trading volume in an options contract is high above its average. This type of activity is often due to institutional investors and it can be a signal that smart money thinks the price of a stock will move soon. Keeping an eye on...

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Time and Sales Explained

Time and sales is a running display of all trades executed for a particular stock. It is often used by traders as a way to gauge activity around a particular stock and to find potential entry and exit points. In this guide, we’ll explain what time and sales is and how...

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Best Technical Indicators for Day Trading

Technical indicators play an important role in trading, and particularly in day trading. Indicators provide deeper insight into price movements and give traders the information they need to identify potential setups and make trading decisions. While there are hundreds...

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Risk/Reward in Trading

Learning to manage risk effectively is key to success as a trader. Good risk management helps minimize your losses and preserves the gains from your winning trades. By understanding the risk/reward ratio of any individual trade, you can better decide which setups to...

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Quadruple Witching Guide

Quadruple witching is a market day when single stock options, stock index options, single stock futures, and stock index futures all expire. Quadruple witching days typically see above-average trading volume, although this volume isn’t necessarily accompanied by...

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What are Iceberg Orders?

Iceberg orders are a type of trade typically placed by institutional investors. They are designed to mask the size of an order, such that only a small portion of the total trade – the tip of the iceberg – is visible to the market. Traders who can recognize iceberg...

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What is a Gap Fill in Stocks?

Gaps in a stock chart occur when the price of a stock moves suddenly up or down, usually in response to news outside of market hours. In some cases, these gaps don’t last – rather, they’re “filled” as trading action brings the price back towards the previous close....

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Why Do Stocks Get Halted?

Trading halts can be a big deal for active investors, particularly if you are holding a stock that temporarily can’t be traded. But since trading halts are relatively rare, many traders don’t know why they happen or how they work. In this guide, we’ll explain why...

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How Zero Commission Brokers Make Money

Zero-commission brokers have been in the news emphasizing the democratization of investing, pitching cost-savings for clients, and helping fuel the momentum of meme stocks. However, some of these brokers have also received criticism for the gamification of the stock...

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What is a Sympathy Play in Stocks?

Whenever a publicly traded company releases big news that drives the share price up or down, it’s common for the company’s competitors in the same industry to see significant stock price movements as well. These ‘sympathetic’ movements offer a chance for traders to...

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What is Smart Order Routing?

In the world of trading, the term “route” refers to the path an order takes to get to the market. While most traditional discount brokers automatically route orders for clients, day trading brokers give clients control over their order flow. If you’re a trader using a...

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What is Relative Volume in Stocks?

Volume is a key metric that every trader should be aware of. While trading volume on its own is informative, relative volume is particularly important for trading. Relative volume can indicate when trading interest in a stock is high or low and it may provide signals...

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