Naturally, the first thing you will want to do is get some kind of basic education, so you'll need to look at taking a day trading course, or at the very least, reading a book or two (see below). The best course I would recommend is called Day Trading Freedom from Harvey Walsh (click here to find out more.

The next step is to try paper trading. No, that's got nothing to do with buying and selling bits of paper, quite the opposite! Paper trading is the practice of trading without trading, that is to say, trading without actually buying or selling anything. Just as someone learning to fly a plane will probably start off in a simulator, so a beginning day should start with simulated trading. This gives the opportunity to test out a chosen trading strategy, and get comfortable with it without risking any cash.

The next step is to start live trading with very small amounts of cash. Paper trading is all well and good, but it wont prepare you for the emotional turmoil that the live markets entail! Making the step from simulated trading to live, is one of the biggest steps a trader will make, and shouldn't be done before they are consistently profitable on paper.

Depending on your aspirations for your day trading - perhaps it's just for some extra cash, or perhaps it's to start a new career - you will need to consider some of the following:

Time Available - The time you have available will have a big impact on how you trade. If you are only available late at night after you've eaten and put the kids to bed, then you're most likely going to have to look at trading a market outside of your home market. For example. if you live in the USA and can only trade late at night, you might want to look at the Asian market where the time difference will work in your favor. Alternatively, the forex market trades 24 hours a day and so offers opportunity at all hours.

Cash Available Different markets are geared differently, and will carry different amounts of risk. If you only have a very small amount of disposable cash to get started, you probably will want to look at forex or maybe mini futures where it's possible to start small. On the other hand, stocks might be a better choice for you as the lower gearing means it's actually harder to lose significant amounts quickly.

Risk Tolerance If you dont like risk, you will want to choose a market that's easier to trade. In my view, US stocks win hands down here as the easiest thing to trade.

Financial Experience If you have no idea about numbers or finance, stick with a simple market like stocks or forex. Options, and to some extent, futures, are more complicated and better left until when you have a better understanding of how all of this works.