I've been studying, SIM trading, but mostly live trading for well over a year.
Scalping fits my nature more than anything else.
TOS sucks as a scalping platform and I don't know that I'll be significantly profitable enough quickly enough to justify opening an account with Lightspeed, et al. I have very little breathing room before I drop below the ******g PDT requirement.
I'm finding that I have 'options paralysis' and miss moves when trying to scalp stocks, but when I do lock into one, I'm profitable.
Futures: I seem to be able to trade the M/NQ fairly well. 67% winning on the year, 46 trades taken, 33 of them this quarter.
I have $1200 in my Tradovate account. I mostly traded MNQ, but when I saw what I think is my edge the other day, I traded full contracts without an increase in blood pressure. I was profitable.
I know I have more work and refinement to do.
I can't tell if I have edge, or if I'm over confident.
How am I torn?
I feel like I need to just commit to trading futures, specifically the MNQ / NQ.
I have 26k in a TOS account
I feel like if I move that $ into my futures account, I'll lose it. I don't know why I feel that way, I have a decent hit rate.
Even if I want to transfer the $, I'd get a margin call because of the ******g PDT rule (which I hate with a seething passion). I had TDA remove the PDT badge several months ago so I could put on some risk to get my account above 25k (I was at ~23k). Now the badge is back and I'm not sure I can have them remove it again.
If I move a bunch of money into my futures account, I'm not going to just go nuts and trade 2, 3, 4, or more contracts. I'd still be super cautious and trade at most 1 NQ, or 1-3 MNQ contracts as I continue to refine my strategies.
I'm just not sure. Part of me thinks I'm at that crossroads where it's time to take the step.. another part of me, my ass, is very concerned, because it doesn't want to be separated from me. :)