No matter how hard I try at trading futures I always seem to fail. Put forth hundreds of hours trying to learn futures. I barely make a hundred dollars a day. When I trade equities, I am making 3000-5000 per day with a very reasonable share size.
Most obviously, they have subtle differences in behaviors which means an edge in one doesn't carry over into the other. IMO for a discretionary trader there's no point in doing both if you already make good money in either. Just get better at what you're already good at.
Futures markets tend to be more liquid and more efficient. There are less easy $ opportunities vs equities that are in play
Excessive leverage and too small of stops ? Most can't handle the speed and whip that futures have especially with program stop runs. Does this happen when you trade SPY versus ES or are you talking like WMT versus ES ?
At $5K/day in equities ($1.25 Million/year), why even bother with futures? The #1 reason any trader should play index futures is RISK CONTROL.... either as a speculation or an offsetting hedge.