My advice to a newbie would be to spend the money on a trading education rather than make your own mistakes.
To be able to act with confidence you need to know that what you are doing works, and be able to do it consistently. The markets are always changing, but if you use the same approach consistently, and the approach works most of the time, you will profit.
To put it in perspective, I have been trading 8 years. Self employed for 4 now. Trading futures for about 2. Still break even on futures. The only thing I am profitable on consistently is my mechanical systems which trade ETFs.
I KNOW why I am not profitable on futures. It's because I lack discipline and I don't trade consistently. I have a mechanical system designed for trading the eminis and it works consistently. It does way better than me.
My advice - for the majority of people out there - don't fool yourself into thinking you can overcome the FEAR-GREED impulses driving the market.
Until you can come upon something that works consistently, and - most importantly - you have lots and lots of data to prove the idea works, AND you are able to execute the idea consistently, you will not be profitable.
There are very very few individuals who are able to act (like machines) without emotion when it comes to money. If you are starting out and have worked hard for that money, you WILL feel emotional about trading.
read this article, I can tell you it will describe the path of 99% of traders exactly:
http://www.trading-naked.com/library/Chap2.pdf
So, bottom line, invest in your education so you can act with confidence. Don't worry if it cost a lot of money. You would have lost that money on you r own making mistakes!