The index perps trade for the whole weekend. Nobody needs to watch them for the whole weekend. A short routine with fixed check-ins gets the information without the screen time. This one runs from Friday’s close to Monday’s bell and is built for a trader of SPY, QQQ and IWM options.
Friday, after the close
Save Friday’s map. For SPY and QQQ, note the close, the gamma flip, the call wall, the put wall and the expected move. Do the same for IWM. Reading the dealer map in 30 seconds gives the order to read them in. These are the levels every weekend reading gets placed against, and they do not change until options trade again.
Also note which walls rested on contracts that expired on Friday. Those are the ones most likely to look different on Monday.
Saturday
Do nothing unless a push arrives. Trader sends one the first time an index perp is half a percent from its close. If your phone is quiet, both perps are inside that band. If a push does arrive, apply the move to Friday’s close, place the level on the saved map and check which names are behind it. Then leave it. The first reaction to anything is the least reliable.
Sunday afternoon
This is the main check-in. Read the move since the close on both index perps. Read the seven mega-cap perps and see whether they agree. Look at funding and open interest for a lean. Place the implied levels on the saved map. Note whether either one has crossed the flip or reached a wall. A weekend move across the gamma flip covers the reading.
Sunday evening
Futures reopen. Compare them with the perp. Agreement gives the weekend move a second, deeper witness. Disagreement is worth a few minutes, and when the perps and the futures disagree lists the checks. The Week Ahead is published on Sunday evening and quotes the perps. For IWM, Russell futures are the first live price since Friday.
Monday, before the bell
Read The Open. Check the perp once more against futures and the pre-market. Write the two or three conditions you will check in the first hour. Then wait for the fresh map. A pre-market routine covers the rest of the morning, and this weekend read slots in at the front of it.
What the routine is for
It is for arriving on Monday knowing where a live market had the index all weekend and what that level meant on Friday’s map. It is not for predicting the open. The perp shows where price is on another venue. The dealer map shows what a level means. The open is set on Monday by the market itself.
Everything in the routine is on Trader: the index and mega-cap perps on the Perps & Futures tab, the dealer maps for SPY, QQQ and IWM, and the push. Dr. NoVo, NoVo’s markets SI, reads the same venues all weekend and can be asked at any of the five check-ins.