FB ... Thanks for the analysis. I will be sticking with NQ for the moment as all that you have said makes sense to me. Under fairly "normal" conditions what do you think of an initial stop eight ticks back, moving my stop to break even once I have eight ticks in the trade and beginning to protect half my profit when I am plus 16 ticks in the trade? If you think I am too tight with this as a basic guideline, would a stop ten ticks back and pulling to break even with 10 ticks of paper profit be more reasonable? I frequently enter on a stop off a setup and don't just sit there and wait for the stop to be hit if I don't like how it goes through. Instead I trade-out at the market whenever it doesn't feel right. This has saved me $$ and also had me exiting trades that went on to do well. On balance it has paid off.
You should start a thread with your ideas on trading ES and see what respones you get instead of hiding your views in this thread.
I wasn't aware that I was hiding anything just by posting in a thread... in any case, I think I've pretty much talked myself out on this topic anyways, it's kind of boring me at this point.
GiantDogTerd: You certainly impress us with your support of Alex and PureTick, go ahead, I know you are dying to refresh more of his announcements and send more new victims his way!
FB123 explained about the ES handicap very well. Thanks. If you trade after hours but not ready to trade DAX (more capital needed and bigger risk), that is about the only time trading ES makes sense. NQ, YM, TS are not suitable for trading after hours due very low volume during those times.