Thanks for this reply. This is quite helpful.. i didn't think about trading stuff after my day job is over..thought i was restricted to the u.s. equities market. i will look into ES and self learning through all the available resources.
There is a vendor nightscalper.com that has a room open all night to trade ES on Globex. There is plenty of ES volume even overnight and you can learn a lot from that room day after day. I think most of the members in the room are just learning so you would probably be comfortable there. I think most, if not all, of the members in the room have day jobs and are just looking to pick up a few hundred dollars a month and learn ES. "Hold on to what you got; till you get what you want!" Good luck
Self Learn??? Have you thought of: 1. Taking a course in Stocks 2. Move on to options 3. Then other markets such as FX, Commodities.....etc.. Then you would know what you like to trade. I don't want to discourage you, but this can take years. I started trading without a mentor December 2nd, 2008 (FX). 2013 was my first profitable year. If you get the right guidiance you can probably do this well within 18 months with absolute dedication.
Jump in and out of the ES and click your life away:eek: http://wrdbnr.com/post/6599595613/you-click-your-life-away-aka-you-spend-too-much
You don't have to only day trade in order to make money in the market. Explore all investment vehicles out there. Day trading is being thrown in with the sharks because the Algos are excellent at whipping the small hand out of there position intra day. You have to know why you enter a position and when to sell it. Establish rules to your trading and follow them regardless. The trick at making it as not only a day trader but as a trader period is surviving the learning curve. The curve is short for some and longer for others. Capital Preservation during this time is priority. You might have the potential to be the best trader in the world but if you don't preserve your capital through out the learning curve you'll never be around to trade another day to get to that point.
To anyone with half a brain, you're a completely clueless piker trading a $20k account who is mistaking gambling for trading.
You're mistaking the higher liquidity in financial markets (vs. a brick and mortar business) for safety. With that type of thinking you're destined to learn very painful and expensive lessons. In three years, come back to this thread and let us know what you learned.