I trade ES almost every night. The movement is usually pretty slow so you have to put in more time for fewer points compared to normal hours. Action heats up right around 3 a.m. est when europe opens. Not sure what time zone you are in but you usually can make some decent low risk trades fading the move that happens right at 3 est.
I do not understand why you are attacking me and why you are misinterpreting what I said. Here's the definition of "normal" from dictionary.com 1. conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural. 2. serving to establish a standard. In case you still don't understand, a normal job means standard job...which means it's something that probably 90%+ of the people in the world have. Whereas daytrading is not a "normal" job because very few people (at least % wise) do it for a living. It astounds me that you cannot comprehend that, and you're here calling me stupid and saying how people working 9 -5 jobs are lacking ambition. Not everyone can daytrade for a living because many people just aren't made out for it, don't have the skills, or want a stable income. If everyone becomes "normal" by your standards and daytrades for a living...then the world would be nothing because we won't have teachers, doctors, bankers, engineers, policeman, etc. Who do you think designed/implement the platform you use to daytrade? That's right, those guys working 9-5 jobs.
I live in the Eastern US, so I can't stay up that late. I've noticed it too while paper trading. The ES barely moves and there's like no volume. I need to find something that would mirror real daytrading during market hours, and it looks like it would have to be the Asian markets...which I know like nothig of.
Sure you can, you can sleep 8 - 2:45 and trade early morning before work. Or find a different job that lets you start later and work later.
That's an idea. My sleep cycle and lifestyle would probably get all screwed up though. Anybody know any good papertrading software that allows me to trade overseas markets? I'm using Thinkorswim right now and I don't think it allows me to. If it does, then maybe I'm not doing it correctly. Thanks
You should be able to download a number of platform demos that will allow you to papertrade pretty much any market. Try strategyrunner or pfg best direct, Becoming a trader is all about making sacrifices along the path to get there. How bad do you want it ?
Interactive Brokers will let you do it with their Trader Work Station (TWS). After you open your IB account, you can also open an IB papertrade account. The standard IB data bundle lets you trade the US, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australian future exchanges with your IB paper trade account or your regular IB account. There is probably even more exchanges that you can trade. I've only listed the ones that I have traded through my IB account.
this was helpful--wanted to say thanks sethaholic--I was thinking the same thing and asked something similar on other threads because I haven't been able to look at futures markets yet Retief--thanks for that information! I think what volente_oo posted is very important. Got me thinking---how bad do I want to learn to trade. Definitely an option!