Day traders hold positions from seconds to several hours, closing everything before the end of the trading day to avoid overnight risk and swap fees. Typical targets are 20–100 pips with proportional stops. The style is the middle ground between scalping (minute-scale) and swing trading (multi-day).
Day trading forex pairs up well with the London–New York overlap (roughly 8am–12pm ET), which offers the highest liquidity and the cleanest directional moves. Outside of that window, spreads widen, ranges compress, and the edge in most strategies disappears.