Before I begin - realize that what you're attempting to do is exceptionally difficult. Of all of the people who attempt to learn to trade, 99.999% of them will never ever be consistent. Additionally, the ones that do usually take between 5-10 years of study to get consistent enough to not blow themselves up in a different market (usually bear). So, as you learn to predict the future (yes, that's what you're doing) recognize that it is a process and have a plan to learn. In other words, be methodical about your learning and don't treat it as a hobby.
Now, down to more specifics...
First, always trade the same size until years from now when you're much better and know how to adjust size (if ever). If you're trading 1 contract, or 10 shares, just leave it at that. The goal is not to win the lottery, it's to demonstrate that you can be consistent. Then worry about scaling up. Remember this 1 very simple (but challenging) thing:
You are not trading for profitability, you are trading for probability. In other words, you don't need to buy at the absolute low of the day and sell at the absolute high of the day to make money. If you can consistently make a point or two over and over and over and over, then double your size. Do that for a few months. Then double it again. Eventually you'll learn that a point or two multiplied by 1,000 trades with 100 contracts is a lot of money. Don't worry about making the big swings.
Second. Start by scalping. Understand that in any trade you likely have no more than a 50/50 chance of being right. In the long run you can prove that it may be much better odds than that, but in any given trade you can't believe that it is. If you can scalp successfully - meaning, take a profit at exactly 1x your risk so that risk = return - then you'll know if you understand market movement and entries.
After that, consider swinging some of your trades (maybe 10-20%), but only the ones that qualify as swing trades. I.E. don't swing all the time - only when you think there's a trend and you have a target identified that's far enough away that you think it can get to.
Also, know when it's trending vs. a trading range and have a strategy for each of them. If you try to swing in a trading range it won't work. If you try to scalp in a trend, you'll likely become frustrated.
Additionally, I'd suggest the following:
1. Watch Mack's videos on YouTube. He publishes one every day, and he's exceptionally talented, even if you don't think so right away. I'd recommend watching them every day until you understand what he's saying. In fact, go back and watch the last 6 months of videos to start.
Mack's videos can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/PATsTrading/videos
2. Try this study that I wrote and published on this site. It's a Risk / Reward study that will help you set stops below signal bars and equal to 1x your risk. I built it - go ahead and use it / share it / etc. I always enter below my signal bar with a stop below + 1 tick. My first exit is ALWAYS a scalp, and I use a swing target ONLY IF... and I mean only... if I have a known target beyond the scalp AND I believe there's some momentum to carry it there.
The study can be found here:
https://usethinkscript.com/threads/...-indicator-for-thinkorswim.13897/#post-123036
Best of luck. Stay focused.
