In my opinion they do not work because stocks are better. They offer more profitability in a day. It is easy to detect in the pre-market what will be the stocks with the most potential. Futures trading is more dangerous because you must risk more to get less.
Oh no, not again ... You went from day trading doesn't make sense to day trading futures is easy and now back to day trading with futures doesn't work ... I think the problem might be with you, not the markets.
Both work for me. But I prefer index futures. More liquidity, favorable leverage requirements, better tax treatment (US), etc. I don't pay much attention outside of main US market hours, but.. from 0930EST-1600EST... ES and SPY move identical NQ and QQQ move identical The vast majority of stocks, on the vast majority of days, move the same as SPY, usually differing only in degrees range. You lost me here... Huh? Isn't that a function of your trade plan?
Let's treat futures as one entity then because it certainly doesn't matter if it's the indexes, gold, oil or interest rates...
It's not a matter of "one vehicle working and another not"... they all work more-or-less to the same degree depending upon the trader's brain. The ES is the largest equity trading vehicle... ~$200-$500B crosses per day... must be a reason behind it. (And it's NOT because, "it doesn't work".)
Of course futures work, however an index will move 1%, 2% and a stock can easily move 4%, 6%, 8%. I mean that the benefit-risk ratio is favorable to stocks. My question is: When one is a beginner in intraday trade, is it not easier to start with stocks?
How does that matter at all? If something moves 4% instead of 2%, you just trade half the position size to get the same risk-reward. Basic. Also, index futures can move 4, 6 and 8% as they have before.
higher leverage in futures. ES requires $6000 to control about 50 * 2666 = $133300 you would need ~66000 for spy