Adjusting Trading Systems for Different Markets

Trading systems are usually designed to trade a specific market, and therefore have default (or recommended) settings that suit one market more than any other markets. For example, a trading system that is designed to trade the Z futures market (the FTSE100 futures) will need adjusting if it is going to trade the YM futures market (the Dow Jones futures), because these two markets have completely different personalities.

All of the trading systems that are explained on the day trading site (in the trading systems section) use default settings that should be suitable for several different markets. However, no single configuration can be suitable for all markets, so the settings should still be adjusted to suit the exact markets that they are going to trade.

Adjusting a trading system for a different market can be accomplished by trial and error (i.e. many different settings are tried until a suitable combination is found). However, the Adjusting Time Frames and Indicators article explains how adjusting the chart time frame and indicator length will affect different aspects of a trading system, and offers some suggestions for configuring trading systems for different results.