Quote from themickey:
I agree with Surf re the stockmarket, in my opinion stocks have lots of unpredictable trends and lots of randomness.
Not all stocks, but the majority. In my opinion, speaking for Australia - ASX, only about 15% of the market is worth trading. The rest is speculative shit stocks with dodgy company directors. However Australia is a resource (mining) country which will explain some of that, with companies run by cowboys. But even still, that 15% still is nigh on impossible to trade with regular success.
However regarding index futures, in my opinion these are way easier than stocks to trade, and very easy to anticipate points where trend change. However there are some techniques which MUST be known, and if you get that wrong, the market will seem incomprehensible and random. This is my explanation of why so many struggle with trading, they don't have the tools, they don't have the depth of knowledge or secret ingredient which puts the jigsaw puzzle together.
If you are an extrovert feely person, you'll probably never get there, you need to be an introvert, back room data person who knows how to concentrate on minute (mynute) details for long periods of time, then you have hope of reaching the "aaahhhh" moment. Failing that, an experienced mentor.