You need to decide the size of the positions you want to take, and the maximum drawdown in your time frame, and then find a contract that has sufficient volatility (not a problem right now) and sufficiently small tick size. Based on what you wrote I would try SPY. It trades in $80-$90 range now and it's $0.01 per tick, and very liquid. You can also find stocks with similar ranges but pay attention to liquidity.
=============== 067; Nice work, you have been in trading business,almost 7 years; my brokers settle positions in paper anyway, checks, US dollars,LOL I meditated on your question[mid east meditation, where you think repeatedly, think thorouhy, rethink, rethink, pause, rethink.......[This differs from eastern meditation] a] Agree with 2nd poster but would narrow it to trade QQQQ, or SPY; sure would look @ DIA, USO,UGA,most news outfits report DOW....... b]Bear market may favor QQQ, they have gone down much more % than SPY, but past performance is not a prediction. c] Speaking of paper I write down daily data [on notebook paper]on QQQQ,SPY,50 day moving averages, other notes..................... ============================================= %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. yearly hi, yearly low, all data high, all time low............................................................. Swing -position trend trade myself, figure QQQQ,SPY could gap agaisnt me overnite 10%, but never has yet, but 5+% swings are common , more or less. Wisdom is profitable to direct, your trend trading may do well; may want to trade , [1 share , $28.90 us dollars,qqqq],or what % you are comfortable with losing. Even best bear markets may commonly retest monthly highs.
the advantage of paper trading is it gives you the time to think. When paper trading write down all of reasons for you to enter the trade. When real trading if you see the same reasons, pull the trigger.
ESTX50 does not have much noise. I would have traded that but it is still about £8 per point. high for me to experiment. But I am stll considering it.
Probably that is another problem - pulling the trigger. I am fearful as well. Needs somehow to boost courage and confidence as well. I am meditating on this aspect but still help will be much appreciated. There must be lots of resources on this aspect. . Thanks
One of the ways to boost your confidence is to chose one vehicle, for example QQQQ (if you prefer that one) and paper trade it for some time, take your time, and then go live...
The Nikkei mini (N225M) is pretty smooth I'm finding, fast, but smooth. It's 500 yen per tick, but a tick is 5 points in the underlying, so just 100 yen (about $1) per point in the underlying index.