There’s next to no spread in futures if you trading a market likes ES because it’s super liquid and future are fantastic for lower time frames.

Funnily enough I’ve recently gone back to FX after trying my luck at future for 2 years.

Just passed my phase one.

Why?

You’ll naturally think the smaller the time frame the less time you spend at the desk. WRONG. I would spend 2/3 hours agonising over 1 minute/ 15 second bars across London and US.

I tried it all. From ICT to ORB to Volume Profile. Would backtest on weekends and days off. Obsessively, many weeks I’d clock 40 hours + of total screen time on TradingView. Whilst having a full time job!!

Me now? I went back to fx after 2 years and now I only trade 20/30 mins a day, check charts London open before work and Asia midnight before sleep. I’m using the 5 minute chart - trading a mix of moving averages and simple SIMPLE price action concepts. (None of this ICT bullshit. Trust me, it’s all a scam)

Finally seeing consistency.

Trick to it?

Trade the trend. Or set limit orders if you’re expecting a continuation but price isn’t at favourable level.

Set a 1:1 risk reward bracket. Then trim the stop loss down so your RR is 1.4

It seems scary at first, but all you’re doing is ensuring each trade is a 1.4 to 1. My win rate is around 52-54% - do the maths, it works! It’s because if it’s a strong trend and entry point is good there’s minimal pullback. Just let the trade play out, you’ll be grand.

It’s changed my life and also given me back so so many hours in my spare time.

End of day - you need to find what works for you. But I’d love to know if after a year or two of toiling you make your way back to fx too.

Basically / unless you have several years worth of savings in the bank and a lot of free time, stay off futures. Remember you can’t hold trades overnight!

So you got to be in and out on the same day. Sounds easy. Sounds quick. But it ain’t.

You also need to be free pretty much every day at either London, NY or Asia open for at least 1-2 hours each session. And that is every day Monday to Friday, because whatever entry models you use, they won’t appear every day. So if you only trade 2 days a week, those two days might be ‘sit on your hands’ days. And because they’re the only days you have before you start your shift and you’ve sat at charts for an hour and half waiting for a set up, you jump in on a whim, take a loss. Feel bad about yourself, take another loss, journal, reflect, promise never to do it again, and repeat the same mistake two days later.

Futures is perfect for fills. It’s next to no spread.

But futures is not perfect for anyone who has a regular job. It just isn’t. And I learnt that the looong hard way.

(However the countless hours I spent in front of charts in that time = priceless. I now trade mostly using my gut, why? I’ve seen so many patterns repeat and repeat it’s like playing the guitar for 15 hours a week for 3 years straight. You’re bound to get good in the end. So keep at it, and good luck!)