Which contract should a beginner trade?

[Lopen]

I am interested in learning how to trade the eminis. I do like the leverage futures provide unlike stocks.

My questions is: for a beginner emini trader, what contract should I start with?

[ES]

Some good action in the ES, S&P 500 emini. Thats what I began with and still do till this day. Others may think differently though.

[Soultrader]

I recommend the YM or mini-sized dow futures. The ES is also good but you may need to use a wider stop compared to the YM. I think its traders preference.

Obviously the ES is more liquid. Its like the YM on speed.

I personally find the NQ to be useless. I wrote an article before for a different forum on "Why the NQ sucks"

[Lopen]

How about the Russell? Is it any good?

[ES]

Originally Posted by Lopen How about the Russell? Is it any good?

No clue. I don't trade it.

[hanz]

ym u need 2 tick to b in profit while es u only need 1 tick

what's the recommended starting account for newbie?

[Nick1984]

Personall I found that stock trading was good for learning before starting in futures because of the leverage effect of futures u can blow up your account faster in futures than in stocks where u can trade off your own equity.

That being said the YM is a bit more beginner friendly. I've only started on the YM for about 2 months. The Russel is based on micro cap stocks which I don't like but thats a personal thing.

The ES seems to be the big boys league and there is a lot more liquidity than on the YM but I think you are also open to a lot more automated systems there as well.

Question to anyone who actually trades the ES on a regular basis: What is you definition of a big player on the ES in terms of number of contracts traded on any one position? On the YM you look for the 10+ contracts but what about on the ES? 30+?

[torero]

It's best to start with YM. ER2 is very volatile. ES has too many pros in there, it's good if you trade large lots.

[TinGull]

Soul...this is the one time I've got to disagree with ya. I've been trading NQ the past few days now and I wish I started out on this one. It's a great contract for beginners because the tick value is the same as YM but the range is less, so the risk ends up being less. You can find great setups that could use a 2 point stop on the NQ based on what the market tells you, and that equates to 8 YM points. Is the reward going to be smaller? Absolutely! BUT it gets your feet wet with real money without having to risk AS much. This is a contract I've been testing a new strategy on and instead of risking play money and not getting that emotional thing that we all love...I'm risking real capital and seeing how my emotions play into the strategy. So far, so great

I vote for NQ or YM, with preference to NQ.

[MrPaul]

Well as far as tick value is concerned these contracts may not be the lowest ( $10/tick Gold, 12.50/tick Corn) but Gold and Grains move fairly slow and give you lots of time to analyze then make a move. I know that the fast movements of the indices were tough for me when I first started.