E*Trade and Stocks

Hello, I have a few questions to ask so I can become a little bit familiar with how the stock market works. You see, I have never really invested in stocks nor have ever considered it a possibility until recently. As I am going up and down the etrade website I am starting to wonder of a few things.

Lets say PTI (PATNI COMPUTER SYS SPONS ADR) stock is going for $14.61 per stock. So I buy some PTI stocks, lets say 1000 stocks, (I also don't know anything about buying stocks. So enlighten me if its not as easy as just buying the stocks when they are at record lows for the day.) at 12:00pm. Then at 2.00PM the stocks are at $15.00 per stock. Could I just sell the 1000 stocks I bought at 12PM, at 2PM, and make $390.00 profit from the investment that day? Will there be any penalties from the trade? I know etrade charges a 9.99 brokerage fee per trade. Also they mark your account as a day trader if you do 4 trades or more per day (which would mean you would need 25000 dollars in your account or more to prevent them from taking money through your stocks.).

The thoughts just blow my mind IF it is as easy as that. I am sure there has to be some kind of drawback.

How does Volume work for stocks? So if a stock has 15M Volume, that means it has 15M stocks for sale? How does a low volume stock work against selling your stocks?

I understand that I am not being to descriptive, but more questions will come up as people start answering my questions. I do appreciate and respect everyone that responds. Thanks in advance for your reponse.

stocks are limited, you can only buy a certain amount depending on what the company wants to put on the market, because if you control 51% or more of the total stocks, then technically you own the company.

yes you can just buy stocks then sell them 2 hours later, but the market rarely stays stable for that long so it's better to wait for the stocks to have a significant increase in value before you sell them, else you run the risk of the stock price falling before your transaction is complete.

because stocks go up in price because of demand in that industry, it's wise to invest in two opposing companies so that you'll have a seesaw effect when one goes down, the other one has to go up in value.

hope i helped you, the stocks are easy money if you know what you're doing, never let somebody tell you 'it's just gambling'.

[edit] it's also wise to invest in things that people always need, hospitals, cemeteries etc, etc.[/edit]

select a good company before investing in.. watch the details lyk p/e ratio, future orders the company have, etc to see if the company is gud n will do gud in future..

share market is not gambling if u invest with some knowledge and definitely its not a place to earn a million overnight..

intraday trading involves much risk and the rates get effected even by minute rumours in here..

so it is better to invest for long term coz it involve lesser risk.. select few gud companies( by doing a bit research on them, seeing thier past) purchase the stocks, have patience.. if ur company is gud.. its rate are gonna rise definitely.. jst have patience..

but don't ever invest your money without knowing the company..

someone asked warren buffett tht how long will he wait for selling his stocks.. he replied if the company is gud he ll wait till eternity…