Same line, different 90 minutes
The day opens on your Nasdaq futures (NQ) chart and its percentage targets are already drawn above and below the open. They stay put until the day ends. Price climbs, touches the first green target and stalls. The next one is a good way higher.
What you can check right now is whether getting there would be an ordinary move for this part of the day or an unusual one. The same distance can be routine at one hour and unusual at another.
Here we read two PulseFlow indicators together. Daily Targets ±4% draws the map. PulseFlow Quarterly Theory 90m Cycles keeps the clock. Together they add what the map lacks on its own: how much this part of the day usually moves.
Daily Targets: the map, drawn at the open
Daily Targets draws an aqua line at today's open, four green targets above it and four red ones below. By default they sit at ±0.38%, ±1%, ±1.5% and ±2%, and you can change all four distances to suit your index. Each trading day brings a new set from the new open.
Quarterly Theory: a ruler that changes every 90 minutes
Quarterly Theory starts the futures day at 18:00 New York time and splits it into four sessions: Asia, London, NY AM and NY PM. Each session holds four 90-minute quarters, drawn as shaded boxes labeled Q1 to Q4, and each quarter has its own typical amount of movement. The indicator shows how much, not where.
On the current quarter, two dotted lines mark where its range, the distance between its high and its low, would reach its typical size. Once the quarter has moved that much, they disappear. A one-row panel shows the range so far against the typical one. An optional 4 x 4 heatmap shows the typical range of all 16 quarters, from the calmest to the busiest, and an alert tells you when each new quarter begins.
Laying the ruler on the map
With both on the chart, the eight targets no longer weigh the same. The ruler sorts them into those that fall within this quarter's usual move and those that would need more, so you can see which of them belong to this part of the day.
Pick the next target above or below price and look at the dotted line on that side. If the target sits between price and the line, it fits within this quarter's usual move. If it sits beyond, reaching it would take more than usual. If the lines are already gone, the quarter has done its usual amount, so any target further out would take an unusual move.
The typical range comes from past quarters and does not account for news days; on a news day, a quarter can run well past it. Repeat the reading each time the alert announces a new quarter.
One target, two quarters
Imagine a 5-minute NQ chart. The second quarter of NY AM has just begun and the panel shows little range so far. Price is already above the +0.38% line. The +1% line sits beyond the upper dotted line: for this quarter, reaching it would be an unusual move.
Now imagine the heatmap shows that the next quarter usually moves more. When the alert fires, the new dotted lines reach further and the +1% line falls inside them. The target has not moved. The ruler has.
Setting up the chart
Use NQ, ES, YM, RTY or their micro contracts with extended hours, on a 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10 or 15-minute chart, where Quarterly Theory shows its full view. On regular-hours charts or cash indices, the True Open and the early quarters are missing.
You will see two opens. The aqua line is the day's open from Daily Targets; the purple line is Quarterly Theory's True Open, the price at 00:00 New York time. They are different references, so do not read one for the other. If the chart feels crowded, set Daily Targets to show only today.
Where to start
Prices for PulseFlow indicators are not active for now: details are in the pricing section. What this pairing is worth to you will show in your own sessions.
Start with the clock. Put Quarterly Theory on your index futures chart and, for a few sessions, check at the start of each quarter how far its dotted lines reach. Then add Daily Targets and lay the day's map under that ruler.