Still new at this but I understand the basic concept behind it I think. I 'short' 100 shares of XYZ hoping that it will drop, then an hour later XYZ shares are $1 lower and I 'cover' 100 shares making $80 (subtracting fees). Correct?
However, is it really possible to day trade short with any reliability? I attempted my first short today, I didn't shoot to make any real money, just wanted to see how it worked. I shorted some shares, watched it until it dropped about 30 cents then covered it. There's where I found the problem; with the 20 min delay on the somewhat volatile trading, the stock was actually only 9 cents down when the transaction completed.