I've decided that for now I'm going to focus on the futures market, namely ES and NQ. I prefer trading the same thing rather than jumping around from stock to stock searching for the next move. As for options, I can trade the SPY and QQQ, but I'd rather trade the futures themselves.
Actually a pretty good idea. Some of these stocks have a pattern to the way they trade. Kinda like a "personality". My wife worked for a very large Co and I vowed never to trade the stock since I would sometimes pick up some info, not necessarily "inside", but I just thought why tempt fate? But I did watch the stock and the sector and I got to where I could predict what it would do. Not on a 5-10 min or even daily basis, more like a swing trade. So, my advice, pick a couple of stocks and just start watching how they trade. Here's one I've just started trading and it's making some nice moves, doesn't have a huge daily range, so you can use reasonable stops. I bought some options on it the other day and it's on my list for today. F (Ford)
Great man, thanks for asking! I've opened up an account with a futures broker so I'm only trading futures for now. Trading naked options is a bit less precise in terms of getting in and out at desired levels, and I like that the futures market is tradable all day and night. Futures price movements are also a bit more steady and less unpredictable than stocks, and I like that I can just focus on one or two markets and not have to worry about hunting down stocks every day. Perhaps one day I'll get back into stocks and options, I would imagine for longer term trades, but they're off my radar for now.
I'm now using divergences, market and volume profile and footprint as part of my system. I've abandoned my previous moving average based strategy. I'm more interested in reading and understanding the market than mechanically trading based on a couple of lines crossing. Also incorporating higher time frames for bigger outlook and bigger moves.