Get a job and develop a career. That should be your primary goal right now. Once you've secured a regular income and benefits, there's plenty of work you can do to develop your trading skills for a second income source in your spare time. You do NOT need to daytrade to make money in the markets.
Of course you don't NEED to, it's just the very best way a person can learn to compound their money on their own. That being said, it's a huge commitment of time and energy to get to the point where one can do that.
Given the ratio between tick size and commissions is it realistic for a new trader to try and scalp seven or eight ticks out of NQ with a single contract? I have been struggling in my paper ES and currency trades for four months. I show a profit before commissions but when I factor in commissions I don't quite cut it. Before I invest a ton of time paper trading NQ I would like to know if I am beating my head against a wall or if the commission to tick size ratio is not as overwhelming as it appears to be ... at least to me. My alternative is to spend more time in ES and or the Euro/Dollar trades till I can cut it. Please refrain from any advice to trade prop or stocks in general. I am seeking advice on futures and not alternative instruments. Thanking all in advance.
It took me around 6'500 hours in front of the screen / intraday charts to find my way to take money out of the market. Without a mentor or a holy grail sh** system. Maybe you can do it in the half of that, I dont know. Try to stay in game over this learning time and keep the spirit over this time. There will come many many days you will think to quit the challenge. It is more likely to survive this time with trading stocks than futures.
I can tell you with certainty that it's possible. Whether it's realistic for a new trader is another matter. And as with everything, it depends on how you do it.
Rather than be fixated on whether this style is realistic -- scalping NQ -- maybe I should be asking contract a novice should be trying to scalp. I have $15,000 between two accounts. These funds are not necessary for me to pay any current expenses; it's not the rent money but rather it is there for speculation. That said, I want to start small -- a single contract -- and scalp so that the stops are manageable. Any insight will be helpful.
see the reply from croupier.... 6500 hours is probably the minimum to spend at the screen before you have some workable knowledge. how many hours have you spent?
I favor NQ because it suits me. That's a personal choice and suitable for the method I developed. With limited funds and experience, the best advice I could give you is to study the markets as others have suggested and devise a method over time in response to your observations. Then test it. Back testing has value, but you should also give simulation a try before going live. If you manage to hypothetically make money sim trading, it doesn't necessarily mean you will succeed in live trading. But if you can't make it work in sim, you'd be wasting real money trading live. But you know all this.