In this tough economic environment, with bad news seemingly around every corner, even seasoned traders have given up on trying to make money from the stock market and have settled for low-yielding cash and bonds. While understandable, their pessimism is misplaced. It is not the stock market that is broken--it's the old-fashioned trading strategies that worked in the past but now need updating for a different time.

With the advent of algorithm-based and high-frequency trading, market volatility has reached new highs in recent years. This has scared off many retirement and retail investors while profiting short-term traders who know how to play these wild market moves. How have they done it? By playing the natural momentum inherent in market moves to their advantage. The good news: no matter what an individual investor's time horizon or risk appetite, he or she can put these same tactics to use and consistently outperform the market.

With thousands of listed stocks, tens of thousands of options and a growing number of ETFs and other leveraged products, the market can be confusing for the layperson. Historically, the easiest way to make money from the stock market has been to buy the stocks of a few strong companies, oftentimes paying small but manageable dividends, at a low price and hold onto them for years at a time. In good times for the stock market, this might be an acceptable strategy for investors looking to save for retirement.

The problem is, market volatility tends to erase any advantages of a buy-and-hold strategy because prices become so unpredictable. Since 2000, for example, the S&P 500 index has essentially been flat: an investment of $10,000 made 11 years ago would be worth about that much today. That's not a good argument for a passive investment strategy.

Investors who have taken a more active approach to investing have reaped the rewards. Setting up a mixture of long and short positions as well as exposure to commodities and other financial products has proven successful for active traders. Because market conditions can change from day to day, it's important to keep an active watch on even the strongest portfolio. Watching technical indicators for clues to the market's direction can provide key buy or sell signals and maximize profit.

It is not difficult to make money from the stock market today--it simply requires investors to change their mindset and reap the rewards.

make money on stock market, make money by trading, make money by trading