Two traders watch the same ES open. One sees a candle ripping through the first five minutes and chases. The other already knows the news window, overnight inventory, prior value, VWAP, and the only two playbooks allowed today.
Same market. Different morning. Pre-market prep is not there to make you sound informed. It is there to delete bad trades before the open starts charging tuition.
A futures pre-market checklist should cover event risk, overnight range, prior value, POC, VAH, VAL, VWAP, regime, approved playbooks, daily loss limit, contract size, and the first journal note.
If prep does not produce a map, a playbook, and a risk limit, you are not prepared. You are awake.
| Checklist step | Question | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Event risk | Can news change liquidity or volatility? | Trade, reduce size, or stand aside. |
| Overnight range | Where did inventory build? | ONH, ONL, gap, inventory note. |
| Auction map | Where did business happen? | POC, VAH, VAL, VWAP, HVN/LVN. |
| Regime | Trend, balance, expansion, or chop? | Playbooks allowed or blocked. |
| Risk | What stops the session? | Daily stop, trade risk, max attempts. |
Start With Event Risk
Economic releases come before lines on a chart. CPI, FOMC, NFP, Fed speakers, treasury auctions, inventory reports, expiration, and holiday sessions can change the behavior of clean levels.
Before you mark a setup, decide whether the session is normal, reduced-size, wait-until-news-passes, or no-trade. A level that looks perfect two minutes before a major release is not the same level after liquidity changes.
Map the Auction, Then Name the Play
Mark overnight high and low, prior high and low, POC, VAH, VAL, VWAP, and any obvious low-volume gap. Then convert the map into one to three playbooks: POC bounce, VAH rejection, VAL reclaim, VWAP pullback, or no trade.
If every level matters, no level matters. The pre-market map should make the first hour smaller.
ES opens above prior VAH with overnight inventory already long. The first trade is not automatic long. The plan is acceptance above VAH or failed acceptance back inside value.
If buyers hold the retest, continuation is allowed. If price re-enters value, the target becomes POC before any heroic breakout thesis.
No trade if price opens in the middle of value with no edge, news is minutes away, overnight range is unusually wide, POC/VWAP/current price are stacked in a grinder, or reward-to-risk is gone by the time confirmation appears.
Write the First Journal Note Before Entry
The first journal note should say what kind of day you are prepared to trade, what setups are allowed, what invalidates them, and what stops the session. That note becomes the standard you review later.
Pair this with the full futures trading routine, reward-to-risk examples, and the position size calculator.
Source and risk notes
- CME economic calendars and product resources can help traders identify scheduled market events: CME calendars.
- NFA investor materials warn that futures trading is risky and should use only risk capital: NFA Investor Best Practices.
- A checklist reduces decision load, but it cannot remove event, slippage, liquidity, or platform risk.
Final rule: pre-market prep is successful when it deletes more trades than it creates.
