Hi BoyBrutus. I do use volume but more in a Wyckoff style that I have developed. I never look at bid and ask depth as that can be false and anyhow, I make the decision based on the fact that I think the price will move in my direction. If you look at time and sales you will see what volume is safe to trade before you get averaging of prices, so you don't need to look at depth. Please understand that this is my approach, I'm not knocking those who find depth useful.
Markets tend to move with herd emotion, but because the amplitude of the move differs between markets, most traders don't understand that they tend to move up and down together. For trading the ER my first point of reference in the cash market $RUT as the cash can smooth out some of the tick wobbles. Alongside that I look at the cash Dow but the ES and $SPX is fine too.
I trade using very common indicators like macd, stochastics, cci etc. Generally I don't use patters to scalp, but I zoom out to a bigger timeframe to see if there's a pattern I should be aware of. I tend to scalp within the pattern.
I keep and eye on the 1, 5 and 10 minute charts but real trading takes place using range charts, usually below the 1 minute timeframe.
I trade all day. I even eat at the screen. I don't believe in bad times to trade. Time and sales tells me what's safe, and indicators don't know what time of the day it is!
Number of trades can be around 100 per day. I don't have a target and I don't "place" a stop. Basically I expect the trade to work quickly, and if it doesn't and moves below the prior bar I'm out.
Using range charts means I don't think time. A trade usually lasts more that a minute but sometimes less. Every day I'll have trades 15 - 30 minutes in duration.
Because I have a lot of confidence in the price movement I never scale in/out. If you don't have that degree of precision, scale in/out and read lots of books on trading psychology!