I understand where you're coming from on. My broker charges ridiculously high commissions on the micros and it was a deal breaker for me, unfortunately.

Another option to consider is switching to a broker that has stock/etf trading and trading the SPY ETF. TD Ameritrade, E*trade, and Charles Schwab all offer commission free trading now. This would be a good way to trade similar size as 1-2 micro contracts, without the excessive fees AND with great liquidity as SPY is the MOST liquid ETF in the world.

Just my .02!

Out of curiosity, can you short spy? I was thinking you could only take long positions unless it was options or futures.

You can short if you have a margin-approved account. SPY is very liquid and thus very easy to short.

I quite like TD Ameritrade’s platform thinkorswim, and now with zero commissions it is an excellent opportunity to learn how to trade without paying tons of commissions/fees.

You can short if you have a margin-approved account. SPY is very liquid and thus very easy to short.

I quite like TD Ameritrade’s platform thinkorswim, and now with zero commissions it is an excellent opportunity to learn how to trade without paying tons of commissions/fees.

Not to sound like an idiot but what does 1R+profit mean?
I can only really manage my trades on Wed-Fri so I think I'll set up on my sim 2 or 3 lots on Mon and Tues and track that for a bit to see how that works. When I first started earlier this year on my sim account I was doing 3 lots and did well, but when I went to real money on the micros I discovered that live trading is MUCH more stressful and I had to limit myself to the one trade a day because I had zero self control. Using the one lot has helped me to wait for the better opportunities. Thanks for the advice!

1R is an R-multiple which is a way of tracking your risk vs reward on a trade. So if you are trading the MES and your stop is 2 points away, your risk per contract is $10.00. If you are trading 2 contracts your total risk would be $20.00, so if price moves in your favor 2 points and you close both contracts to lock in the 2 points per contract, your profit would be $20.00 and that would be 1R, you made as much as you had risked. if you made 4 points per contract you would achieve 2R. Its just a flexible way to track risk-reward across all types of instruments.

I'm really tired today so I hope that makes sense and I didn't mess anything up. Also remember I'm in a similar boat as you and just recently scaled up beyond 1 contract, I just wanted to share my experience with you since I suspect you'll enjoy scaling the MES more than jumping to the ES right now but to each their own, and in the end the final decision is up to you. Best of luck!

Mostly due to fees. I am with Infinity Futures which I really like a lot due to their excellent customer service. But micro fees for me are $2.04 R/T. On single lots that really takes a bite out of profit. Down the road I could switch to another brokerage firm for much cheaper fees and just sick with multiple contracts of micros so I guess that could be option 3. I do really like the fact that the micros are much smaller as far as comfort/risk level.

your getting bent over the barrel with those fees I would switch to ninja trader even a free membership would be cheaper then that

https://ninjatrader.com/PDF/ninjatrader_futures_commissions.pdf

and check the elite section to see if there are any discounts for switching to ninja

-P