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I agree on most of the comments - learn trading via the SPY, DIA, QQQ, IWM first before moving to the futures.
You will likely take your lumps in the beginning - you will appreciate not utilizing any leverage during that time.
But stay away from the other etfs. They only benefit the brokers in the long run.
map it to your feed, just enter in there SPY ... and if you are using a futures broker, you dont have it on the feed... go against Kinetik EOD which will have it for daily bars I think... I use IQFeed for my historical.
Equities (Stocks) trading should give you the foundation on which to build. Many of the skills are portable to the other instruments, but there are other layers of complexity that come when you go beyond stocks. that and increased risk that comes with leverage. You can start small with stocks, with small numbers of shares and low prices.
If you're a beginner, you're best off staying away from futures. Yeah sure you can make lots of money but you can also lose lots of it. The vast majority of futures traders lose money. That is a fact. You're better off starting with plain stocks. Keep track of them and trade them. I started trading low cost and high volume stocks on the NASDAQ before I expanded to the S&P and NYSE. I only recommend trading futures and commodities after you get a feel for stocks.
There should be a rule for seasoned traders to stop telling newbs they "COULD" make money trading futures.
No one who would trade futures thinks they are anything less than the smartest person in the world. So of course they try, then most get wiped out....
When I started futures, were a scary thing as they should be for new traders. This board tends to get myopic with that idea IMO...
Trading SPY and overcoming transaction cost should be a scary thing to a new trader...as it IS. You have almost no chance...You won't get creamed as fast though with SPY vs ES.
Don't forget to day trade ETF's you will need a pattern day trader's account, which requires $25,000 minimum funding. The advantage ETF's give you is in the share sizing granularity, you can trade very small shares size 10, 20, 50 shares, and risk very little money while you are proofing your strategy, and getting the psychological feel for trading live.
But, I think a beginner can easily trade the cheaper instruments, at around $5/Tick. I like NQ (NasdaQ), Z (FTSE), DX (US Dollar Index), 6B(Brittish Pound), YM (Dow)
