I believe tools like the trailing stop is very powerful when it comes to tracking some market movements while the stop loss entirely protects the account from blowing up. I’ve been using these with my brokers - Pepperstone, XTB, Fxview. I keep using a blend of these two depending on what security I am trading and what the market conditions are.
I day trade all securities and that includes indices as well. My main reason for this is avoiding overnight or other costs for holding a position for long. But I wouldn't suggest this to beginners as it can be very time consuming and requires decisions on the feet.
There are no rules as such but yes, swings are not crazy with indices like in stocks or currencies, so can give off more stable returns if traded right.
@hilfspaul Stock trading is a big no for newbies. I think only experienced traders should involve themselves with trading stocks. Stock prices hitting lower circuit is a big risk which made me lose my money as a complete market noob. I restarted with fxview with indices, spreads were/are appealing, but I couldn’t keep myself off stocks for long. Again invested in fidelity but this time following the ‘invest and forget’ approach.