CFDs give you the opportunity to profit on small moves in a stock, currency or index. http://www.contracts-for-difference.com/strategies/Day-trading-cfds.html i.e. day trade. Shorter-term traders tend to rely on technical analysis for spotting trading opportunities. There's lots of discussion over what's the best time-period to use for trading profitably with CFDs. Some traders will tell you that the only effective way to trade is to become a professional trader, sitting at your computer all day long looking for trading opportunities.