First two hours of the cash open is the best time where you see volatility if your scalping the markets. You really start to see the markets slow down after
I don't worry to much about commission if I'm swing trading and not placing too many trades in a given week. If I'm scalping the market of course I want a lower commission but using a great platform.
Just dependent on how much your volume is in trading.
I'm very new to options trading as well. I can't really answer any of your questions but my broker sent me this link and there's a lot of information about trading future options: https://www.cannontrading.com/tools/education-futures-options-trading-101
I attended a webinar about future options and I was sent the link because I guess they recorded it as well. Here is the link. I found it pretty insightful. Hope this helps.
https://vimeo.com/174512808/a88e99a55d#at=0
You might how to try crude oil. I would have assumed it would have worked well on gold. Also how about any futures currency. I think you should take a look at those.
Journaling is a lot of work. Especially if you are trading everyday. I keep two. I keep a journal of my experiences and keep track of how different reports affect the market, and I keep track of all my trades in an excel journel.
For example when trading on FOMC days, it is crucial to...
I saw some great insight about crude oil futures from this website: https://www.cannontrading.com/community/day-trading-crude-oil-futures
Also the https://www.thestreet.com/ has great posts about crude oil every week!
It's scary to think about who might be next... I bet this certainly won't be the last time in the next few years a large financial institution goes down for losing too many bets in one sitting.
I spend a little under half of my year in California, are there any other Northern or Southern Californian's putting up with the 3 hour time difference from financial market? 6 am opens may inspire camaraderie. I truly feel for anybody in Hawaii!