A relative newcomer should be trading with little money and so getting the lowest cash risk is the most important factor I think. I'd suggest the european VIX, VXX. Or if you want a US contract Corn or IMM Mexican pesos USD.
Learn to trade directionally and not some convoluted spread between 2 minis. This is a recipe for someone to attempt to be safe while choking off any profit potential. Get right.
no, it's simply a way to trade the size you should be trading instead of the size you think you can trade without stops I might add
if you just put it on 1:1 it's never going to move enough one way or the other to make much difference, but the ES will lead because it has a higher value. After some observation you will realize you need to buy when it is low and sell when it is high. And that is why it is a great spread for an intro into futures trading.
You've just made my point about it being a way to be safe. Here's what is more correct. Trade directionally with proper position sizing.
I would never recommend for a newbie to trade Emini ES, one of the toughest instruments on planet for inexperienced, If you must day trade, would start with Emini Nasdaq, $5 bucks a tick, much easier to cover your commish on each trade with one tick even on breakeven trades. ND trends better. But do sim trading till you can triple your account three times and three different accounts, then you have best change of trading with the sharks, otherwise you are bait. If you doing stocks/ETF, I'd go with SPY.
you aint big enough to trade es, you just think you are, and when it goes wrong, finally you can't take it anymore and you get stopped out at a loss. ES vs YM is directional, it's whatever you are es. If you are long ES and short YM you are long the market.