Wow...what a diffence the FOMC makes...some big contracts coming in on the time and sales...there are traders trading some biggg money folks.
Just check it every AM before trading.
As others have mentioned you want to know where you are in relation to key levels of current and previous activity, similarly you want to know if a report is going to come out. I remember you saying you were in CA now. So the larger reports come out at 5:30 and 7:00 PST besides that you only need to be aware of the occasional FOMC release, Trump tweet, triple witching or terrorist attack.
Of course if you are able to replicate your sim performance with live trading (which is doubtful) and you can still make money with your broker occasionally auto-liquidating your positions it wont matter.
mr. es < > please do not skip over this very important post quoted above< >
also congrats for such a successful, honest, non egotistical thread you have gong here.
Be sure that the markets will trade through your limit orders. For example if you have a sell limit @ 2400.00 then you should see 2400.25 prints to be sure you get filled. Also the spread will do tricks for you not getting optimal fills everytime.
Remember the LIVE situation will be different what you see in SIM.
Just check it every AM before trading.
As others have mentioned you want to know where you are in relation to key levels of current and previous activity, similarly you want to know if a report is going to come out. I remember you saying you were in CA now. So the larger reports come out at 5:30 and 7:00 PST besides that you only need to be aware of the occasional FOMC release, Trump tweet, triple witching or terrorist attack.
Of course if you are able to replicate your sim performance with live trading (which is doubtful) and you can still make money with your broker occasionally auto-liquidating your positions it wont matter.
This is very, very, very concerning.woh!..the bid and the ask got filled at the same time....

This is very, very, very concerning.
I honestly think its time for you to put on some live trades. If you don't, you are only practicing a system that might have no hope of ever running live. Then you will only reinforce behaviors that will not work in a live market.
In my experience, when the market is stuck in a 1 tick range going from filling on the bid and ask, you usually get filled on the side that will be wrong. For example, if you're hoping to get long, your bid usually will not fill, but it will feel just as the market is about to drop.
You need to feel this stuff out in the real market with real fills before you get ahead of yourself.