This article is not meant to suggest that continuous contracts are universally bad but that one needs to see if they make sense with the way one is interpreting the information given by the chart. Some indicators will give better results if they don’t have sudden breaks and might perform better with a continuous contract. However, comparing highs and lows becomes worthless.

Specific issues related to choice of contract are discussed in the PDF usage guide for Voodoo Lines.

This article points out that on many platforms there is an option to display a front month continuation series which might be more appropriate in some circumstances. This is generally the best choice for use with Voodoo Lines. Unfortunately it’s not available on TOS.

Note that if one limits themselves to only looking at current prices since the last roll over then the choice of symbol doesn’t matter because the continuous contract, front month continuation, and specific contract will all show the same price.