Absolutely, $10K is a MINIMUM for even thinking about trading the ES. Call this the "shoestring" amount. In my years of actively trading (11) futures though, I have met only a handful of independent traders who actually survive more than 3 or 4 years. No, I don't mean they blow out their account. In fact, they may blow out many times and come back smarter, and eventually turn into winners and never look back. Their losses were tuition to the school of hard knocks. The survivors I have had the chance to meet have very stringent money management rules, like I do now. In fact, when I was a free-wheelin trader years back, I would have thought the way they traded was BORING, took oodles of patience (which I didn't have) waiting for the right trade, and (God-forbid) actually meant they DIDN'T TRADE ALL THE TIME. This is totally against the nature of 98% of traders out there, especially newbies. To not be in the game is almost like torture. Another oddity I found, and I find it reflected in my own trading, is that you will trade better when your back is against the wall financially. In other words, taking your winnings out of your account periodically and start afresh. It nips overconfidence right in the bud. You go back to studying each trade carefully like you did in the first place because your account's survival depends on it. Is it any wonder why most accounts blow out after a nice win streak?
What i meant is my mechanical system has performed well the whole of the current contract and the previous but as there was less liquidity, smaller trading range and less volatility the further you go back on the es the performance became worse. But the volatility and volume is increasing all the time so hopefully i should be fine. The mechanical system i have been testing works in a trading range market and the drawdowns occur when the es is trending strongly. only time will tell as I will be putting my money into it next week.