Close or far? It depends on the yardstick
Picture Nasdaq 100 futures (NQ) on a 5-minute chart. A fast drop yesterday left an open zone above today's high, and yesterday's untouched high sits a little further up. Before asking whether price will go back up there, ask something you can actually measure: how big a trip would that be, compared with what the market usually moves?
It depends on the yardstick. Against a whole day, the zone may be a short hop. Against the 90-minute stretch you are trading in, it may be a long way. Two PulseFlow indicators draw both yardsticks on one chart, next to the zones and untouched highs you are already watching.
The day's yardstick: Imbalance Sessions & ADR
PulseFlow Imbalance Sessions & ADR works with the average daily range (ADR), how far a day usually travels from low to high. Its projections rise from the day's low and fall from its high, so you see how much of an average day price has already covered.
It also keeps what is still open in view. Imbalance zones (fair value gaps), the areas a fast move leaves behind, appear when the candle closes: green when bullish, red when bearish. They shrink as price trades back into them and vanish once filled. Dotted lines mark each finished session's high and low until price touches them.
The quarter's yardstick: Quarterly Theory 90m Cycles
PulseFlow Quarterly Theory 90m Cycles is built for index futures: NQ, ES, YM, RTY and their micro contracts. It starts the trading day at 18:00 New York time and splits it into four sessions (Asia, London, NY AM and NY PM) of four 90-minute quarters each, drawn as shaded boxes from Q1 to Q4. On that clock it adds the second yardstick: how much each quarter usually moves.
On the current quarter, two dotted lines mark where its range would reach its typical size, one above and one below. They disappear once the quarter has moved its usual amount, and a one-row panel compares the range so far with the typical one, which comes from past quarters and does not account for news days. Yesterday's high (PDH) and the other untouched highs and lows of previous days stay on the chart too.
When the two yardsticks disagree
A hypothetical case, late in the New York morning. The ADR projections rising from the day's low still reach well past the zone, so by the day's yardstick it is close. Then you check the panel. This quarter has already moved its usual amount and its dotted lines are gone. Reaching the zone before the quarter ends would take more than a quarter usually moves.
Now flip it. A new quarter has just begun and the zone sits below its upper dotted line: an ordinary quarter could cover it. But the day has already traveled close to its average range, and the zone lies beyond the ADR projections.
The same goes for yesterday's high, or a session line from an earlier day that price has not touched. If both yardsticks call the distance ordinary, the trip fits a typical quarter in a typical day; if either calls it long, it would take something unusual. That lets you sort the open zones and untouched highs on your chart into two groups: those within the usual reach of this quarter and this day, and those beyond it. When you look back at yesterday's zone, you already know which group it belongs to and where to keep your eyes.
All on one chart
Use NQ, ES, YM, RTY or a micro contract on a 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10 or 15-minute chart, where both indicators draw their full view. Turn on extended hours so the overnight session counts: on regular-hours charts or cash indices, Quarterly Theory loses the early quarters of the day. Its new-quarter alert is your cue to measure again.
The two indicators split the day differently: Quarterly Theory counts its sessions from 18:00 New York time, while Imbalance Sessions & ADR boxes the Tokyo, London and New York exchange sessions. If the boxes start to pile up, switch off the sessions in Imbalance Sessions & ADR.
Try it in two steps
Build this pairing on your own chart in two steps.
Start with Quarterly Theory on your index futures chart and, for a few trading days, note when each quarter reaches its usual range. Then add the day's yardstick and the zones. Prices for PulseFlow indicators are not active for now: details are in the pricing section.