I have been learning to understand the market interplay and the underlying forces that move the prices, and I made quite some progress this year to establish a system that can produce signals in a more quantifiable/mechanical mode, as I would like to treat trading in a more scientific way than an art (most people think it is an art), and aim for a consistent profitable system should provide reliable trading signals/opportunity/window and more precise entry and exit points within the tradable window/zone.
I work full time (with a somewhat flexible schedule) so I watch market whenever it is convenient and spend more time at night/weekend doing back tests on the systems/parameters. I tried stocks, FX (briefly) before but currently focus on ES with a very small account. At the moment, it is basically at break even level plus the cost of commissions. However, it is getting promising and into the right direction and I feel more confident that I could be profitable in a year or so. I had some moments that I double/triple my small account ($800) before, but giving it all back because of bad risk management and some flaws in the parameters of the old systems.
Trading is such a challenging yet fascinating business, anyone with an intellectual curiosity to find out how market and prices move, mental courage to meet complex challenge, a perseverance personality to survive adversity/failure and a systematic approach to tackle academic/real life problems, would possibly find great success eventually in this endeavor.