What data should I get for replay practice?

#1

I want to make sure I would have the proper data for market replay:
I noticed in other posts (like this one) it is said that for forex pairs we need the spot data, but also the futures data for any of the included currencies (i.e. If replaying the pair GBP/JPY, you will need to download GBP/JPY, 6B, and 6J. All three of these must be downloaded with the same replay dates.)
A few things on that…

  1. Is it true that those futures (e.g. 6B, 6J) have to be level 2 data? (That’s what appears to have been said here.)
  2. If we have level 2 data, doesn’t that include level 1 data? Do we even need level 1 in that case?
  3. Also mentioned was the use of continuous contracts. Will those properly display info? In the futures.io forum here and here a user mentions how “continuous contracts will never give any exact results and is not suited for backtesting. The main reason to use continous contracts is to avoid that price moves too far away from the cash market, if you look back over several years.” Would it be better to download and use the specific contract month for the specific date we wish to replay?
  4. It appears that continuous contract data (both level 1 and 2) is not available in demo NT. Is that correct?
  5. When replaying any market, how much data should we have: Do we need anything other than the day we wish to trade? Should we also have the previous day or two? Or week?
#2

You only need level 1 data ONLY, so don’t worry about the rest. Continuous contract is not a good idea. You may not get exact replica of live in replay, but it is practice. It is VERY VERY close, still great for practice. Generally you only need the one day downloaded; however you may not have EV in that case. If you are missing information on indicators, download more days previous to it.

#3

No level 2 even for the 6’s? It looks like Darrell was saying that was necessary for volume, but that thread is from a long time ago. This one too. So that changed?
And to be clear, you’re saying continuous contract is inferior to using the specific contract month for the specific day being replayed, because cc might not give exact replica of what really happened? But it’s close enough to practice on?