Scrolling text presentation refers to a medium where multiple sentences can be presented in a limited space by drifting text from either right to left or bottom to top. In this study we explored the properties of reading scrolling text. First, looking at the actual scrolling devices in daily life, we surveyed the relationship between the scrolling speed and the maximum number of characters displayed on the devices (number of characters). Then, we experimentally investigated the scrolling speed that participants preferred (preferable speed) as a function of the number of characters (Experiment 1). Error detection performance (Experiments 2 and 3) and participants' impressions (Experiment 4) about the scrolling text presented under various conditions (i.e., speed and number of characters) were also investigated related to the preferable speed. The ideal scrolling speed in daily life and the properties of the preferable speed in terms of information processing in reading are discussed.