In the United States, the markets operate between 9:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. during the week. However, investors do not have to wait for these hours to price in a new development. They can buy and sell futures contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) outside of these hours.
Therefore, it is quite simple to gauge the reaction to a new piece of news when the markets are closed.
Adding Futures Contracts on TradingView
In the image below, you can see QQQ/NDX (NASDAQ ETF) at the bottom and CME Futures Contracts (NQ1!) at the top.
You may have noticed that there are gaps in QQQ. These gaps occur during times when the markets are closed.
On TradingView, the equivalents of the two major indices and futures contracts in the U.S. are as follows:
• S&P 500 • NASDAQ
• SPX • NDQ
• ES1! • NQ1!
