Hi I live in Hawaii and I'm looking at day trading with paper money but don't want to have to wake up at 3:30am to trade and get experience... Is it possible to day trade international markets? would similar strategy and principles apply to international stock day trading? What would be some brokers to look into using? Thanks!
Given your time zone (Hawaii) would you probably be looking at markets in Asia and Australia. Such as Japan, Australia, Korea, Singapore. You would need to look for a broker which provides market data for those markets and lets you place orders there. Those markets are not using the US dollar, so you need to take into account that you expose yourself to exchange rate fluctuations.
Www.interactivebrokers.com they do international stocks and futures. US futures are open 23 hours a day.
Heck, stay in paradise. Wake up early, trade the world and surf at 9. Many of the markets - HK, Korea, Taiwan have stamp tax which is a hassle but there as there is plenty of volatility in the China stocks in HK, you can factor that in and do well. Take a look at HK, Australia and Japan - plenty of liquidity, easy access, tight FX and fits your time zone. Just21 mentions IB which also has an excellent paper trader to test the waters.
If you are paper trading, why not just use Thinkorswim OnDemand functionality? It basically allows you to replay the market. Just pick day and time and you can paper trade in real-time as if you were there. No need to wake up at 3 am
What I do on Maui as far as hours are so unconventional - I sure would not want to confuse someone starting out. I like to zag - not into the zig. As others have pointed out your best bet is futures so you can trade the global markets (Asia, India, Europe) and the US afternoon session. The overlap of the biggest markets in our Hawaii time zone can work in your favor - you will see. Besides - who says you have to trade the US open? You do not have to be sitting in front of your screen to trade. I just check my list of charts every 4-6 hours & put in new orders/adjust stops. Whoever spends the most time at the beach wins - work smarter - not harder. Were U stay?