if you've traded markets long enough, you'd realize there are more trading opportunities in trading stocks than in trading futures (too many people compete for 10-12 points move (in ES). $3000/month = $150 / day = $36K/year (100% batting average)! too much pressure now
It may but that is what he asked about. Min capital to make 3000 month and an instrument and strategy for doing so.
100k, intraday swing/trend following on very high volatility movers (those with news). I'm not doing that but if I was discretionary, I would.
The markets transfer $ from the many to the few. Becoming a profitable trader always takes a lot longer and costs a lot more to make it through the learning curve than few could have ever imagined, let alone endure. Someone stepping in to the arena expecting the markets to gift them with $3k monthly are far more likely to be paying the markets their monthly salary with their mounting loses.
Nobody said skills were the only thing you need, but their relative importance certainly eclipses the other things you asked about, because without them one gets nowhere. Well, let's take a look at those assertions. My guess is that you're dismissing them from a sarcastic outlook, but that might be unwise because a couple of them are actually pretty valid, overall ... "Instrument": there are people making steady monthly incomes from trading a huge variety of different instruments, each according to their own skills, knowedge and experience, so in that sense it isn't really highly relevant to what you wanted to know. Your own circumstances and starting capital can make it relevant to some extent, though, it's true: for example, if you're underfunded to trade futures (a sensible ball-park starting figure for that might be in the region of $25k, after you've developed all the appropriate experience and skills), you might want to exclude those from your consideration? "Strategy": again, there are people making steady monthly incomes from trading with a huge variety of different strategies, each according to their own skills, knowledge, availability, interests and experience, so in that sense it isn't really highly relevant to what you wanted to know. Your own situation, education, interests, background and financial orientation can make it relevant, of course, but you told us absolutely nothing about any of them, so that makes it hard for us to advise you on that front, too: we'd really be guessing, more or less randomly. And I think you probably wanted more helpful answers than random guesses? "Starting capital": ok, this is obviously relevant, but still hugely variable ... one way of looking at it would be to start from the assumption that you're gradually going to become one of the most successful 1% of retail traders. It's a hell of an assumption, of course, but for the sake of offering a more concrete answer to one of your questions, let's assume that, for the moment? In my estimation (and I can't prove this, and neither can anyone else), fewer than 1% of retail traders, eventually, after years of education and skill-acquisition and thousands of hours of screen-time practice after mastering all the basics, eventually earns a steady-ish 5% monthly return on their capital. The $3k/month average you're asking about is 5% of $60k, so that would put your starting capital for that kind of average monthly income at about $60,000. It's vague, it assumes a lot, and it's open to discussion, but it's a ball-park answer, if you're (eventually) among the most successful 1% of retail traders. Personally, I think you'd be well advised to be thinking about how to become among the most successful 1% of retail traders. If it helps/interests you at all, there's a description of how I started off in this post. I hope you find that a more practical and helpful reply to you than my response above.
Scalp the FDAX (Dax Futures). Go for very small (a few ticks maximum) target per trade. Control your losses, keep a tight stop. 10-50 trades per day. 1-5 contracts per trade. I suggest an account balance of 20K or more. Make 150 per day on average and there you have your 3000 per month. FDAX is maybe not everyones taste, but from my experience this kind of scalping in the FDAX is the easiest (consistent) money that I have seen so far in the market. Perfect for smaller scalpers, to make a good basic income or to grow your small to medium account into a bigger one. The downside is, this is not very scaleable, you can trade this with 5 contracts no problem, but upside of that it gets harder and once you reach 10+ contracts you will see that you have to adapt your scalping at least somewhat or move to a completly different style and/or instrument.