todd

Recently i've been wanting to get started in the stock market, but on a very very small scale and with very short term investments (something the lines of day trading) in mind. I know very little about the stock market, how it works, or how people go about buying, trading, and selling. Really all I know is stuff i've heard through casual conversation, and what i've read here. I've read a few stock market threads, but they only briefly discuss the activity of day trading, so i'm not entirely sure I have my facts straight. I think what I want to do is even more short term than day trading.

Basically what i'm wanting to do is find a company whose stock is always going up and down, buy about 5 dollars of stock in it, wait untill it goes up like 5 dollars, and sell. I now have 10 dollars. Is dealing on this scale even possible in the stock market? How simple is it to buy and sell? Would it even be worth doing it: would it take too long; do I need a broker, etc.? Does it take weeks for a stock to raise that much, or is that something that happens overnight? Is this type of trading frowned upon, or do a lot of people do it? If I used an online service like e-trade, when I sell stock is the money immediatly deposited into my checking (or maybe something like PayPal) account? I'm not looking for long term investing money, i'm looking for pocket money like you'd have after a day spent at the casino.

I saw somebody complaining about how some people use the stock market as a big casino...well thats pretty much what i'm thinking of it as right now. Is this a bad thing to gamble in for fun? A bad idea?