Data is available going back many years. When the Mexican Peso contract was introduced several years ago, the use of cash data meant that the futures trader did not have to plunge into the unknown. Most traders of this commodity had a business need for trading it, or a least an understanding of the fundamentals involved. But even the most extreme fundamental traders pay some attention to the technical factors of price action. Charting the cash prices allowed for technical analysis.
Cash prices are available for all of the contracts set forth in the first paragraph.
A robust system based on the cash prices should work on the new futures contract. It doesn't matter. All I can tell you is that these markets can turn on thin dime. You must have some sort of exit or hold strategy. When the Dow is down 500 points you probably won't have the objectivity to launch a successful exit strategy.