True, the US/SEC protects US investors from "doing too much damage to themselves". Though not sure if CFDs are legit in every country outside US.
Yes. EU is 10 yrs laggy , if compered with US, so yup, CFDs arr still here, and in Asia. Contract For Dummies. Fascinating how some of the broker's representatives in here, will defend this garbage. (Kudos to you guys, hope you sleep well ...) Focus on the fight with RH, not on the one that has best till stamp on, since EU will ban it soon too. (prediction...) (My guess, on the reasons, why it's delayed : Central Banks in EU, wants to see more competition being brought by Fintech boom ((including small newbie brokers)), and to avoid killing those, before the desired effect could happen, they need to be given some time, to become stronger in their market share of the game. It's all but a guess. )
You simply don’t have enough capital to trade e-minis with a couple thousand dollars. Even with MES you’ll need more, because your equity curve is going to be a roller coaster. If you’ve never traded before, and you don’t have a smart well thought out trading strategy development and testing system - you are going to burn through some capital. When I started trading, I was told that it would be considered a success if I was break-even after six months. And I had two legends of the bond pit mentoring me.
I tried doing what you want to do a few years back. After 6 years I still can't make a profit trading futures. IMO, those who CAN do it took years to learn and develop a method that works for them. Trust me, this is not an immediate replacement for a job. Not even close. If you are out of work save that $2000 for living expenses. You are going to need it.
Perhaps the best investment of the 2K would be in education e.g. to learn coding or something else useful to have another source of income rather then burning it in the futures market.
Honestly, with $2K and so much uncertainty with your business and COVID and future cash flows - put that $2K in the bank and try to hustle up something local. The markets aren’t going anywhere, and honestly you aren’t in a position at this point in time to succeed with trading right now. That’s not a critique in any way, it’s just reality. See if you can get yourself hired into an Australian commodities trading Company. Electricity, metals, something like that. If you have programming credentials that would be awesome. If you are good with spreadsheets and can get around computers try an Electricity Scheduler position.
I'm Australian in WA, yeah that premier Daniel Andrews you have sure wrecked the Victorian economy with his incompetence, yet his uppermost ambition is cling to his power trip job and suck up to China with the Belts and Road project. To your trading question, Australian don't have cheap brokers like USA for scalping that I'm aware of. Brokerage fees are going to kill you. Trading futures imo is the wrong way to go for a noob. It's possible to make good money in stocks but there is a huge learning curve, need coding skills, I doubt you'll achieve your dreams unless guided by a mentor and that in itself will be difficult.