Paper trading is a must for some time. But that said you must also make the next step to actually practicing. The only way you can progress is by having a stake in the market. A lot of it comes from learning the painful way which is losing money for a while.

Gianni78bari 

Given that paper trading is a necessary step towards becoming a good trader, do you think it's better to start using real money trading first CFD and only after acquiring some experience with these OTC financial instruments then move on regulated market (i.e. futures)? I mean for a rookie who wants to trade futures the best way to choose is: Paper trading -> CFD -> Futures or Paper trading -> Futures I hope I made my question clear. Thank you very much for your answers

Paper trade the market you in eventually intend to trade live.