IMHO, beginners should get their training in equities, because if mistakes are made -- and I'm sure mistakes will be made -- the beginner can make adjustments, cut back on trade size, use smaller positions, and ride as few as 10 shares per trade, each time risking as little as $2.00 (including round trip commissions). Therefore -- assuming a beginner has at least $30K in his account -- and also assuming 10 shares per trade -- he can do (($30,000 - $25,000) / 2.00 =) 2,500 practice trades before he gets disqualified. And at that point he still has $25K in his account. However, thanks to the wisdom of our rule makers and their PDT rule, if the beginner is unable to get that kind of practice in equities, if he's kind of forced to get most of his practice in futures, then -- assuming he's got a $18K account -- and also assuming he limits his losses to 5 points per futures trade -- and also assuming his commission expenses are $5.00 per round trip trade -- his account will be good for only (($18,000 - $5,000) / $255 =) 59 practice trades before he gets disqualified again. And that's not much; when I started out, I used to do 10 to 20 round trip trades per day. Steve