Trading intra day right now is a waste of time. Another way to play it is wait for a dip and go long, and just sit there, DIA pays a decent dividend.
You just don't know how to trade size for small movements in index futs. So you don't like this mkt. Understandable. But don't generalize just because you can't do it.
Why lever up for such small reward is how I look at it. Can you show me your trades for today in a snap shot, showing how well you did. Then I could understand why you said what you did.
You don't need me or anyone else to show you numbers, just watch the market all day, everyday. The same repeatable patterns occur all the time, the reason one can lever up is that they work like clockwork and they allow you to take size without altering the mkts chemistry. I started out trading 12 yrs ago with the premise that, if you watch enough and wait long enough, you'll find those few opps a day where its easy pickings. Then, its a matter of sizing up as you gain experience, so instead of catching, say, 1.25 pts on 2 lots, you're catching the same move but on 40 or 50 lots (or more). Mkt (ES) can handle either situation, your trading account looks much better doing the latter
Same thing all over again. Indexes making higher highs, VIX not making lower lows. The same thing all over again. What this means to me is, VIX,PUT CALL RATIO,TICK,or any other indicator is manipulated just like everything else. It's meaningless to follow them.