The NQ's US session: 3:30 pm to 10 pm
The NQ / ES ratio: who leads today
The ES and the NQ share half their large names, the same desks and the same hours. Yet they do not make the same day, and the difference between the two is information the NQ book alone does not give.
The ratio
Divide the NQ price by the ES price: in October 2026, the ratio runs around 3.5. Its absolute value has no interest. Its intraday slope has a lot: a rising ratio says the Nasdaq outperforms, the large tech names lead, and the NQ's moves are carried by its own flow. A falling ratio says the NQ is dragged by the ES, and that its book levels are tested by a flow coming from elsewhere.
Display the ratio on a 5-minute chart, with its session average. Three reads:
The rest of this lesson is for students
- The laggard rule
- Correlation regimes
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→ Rates and the dollar: ZN, the 10 year, and why the NQ is the most sensitive