What is the
Market Brief?

Most traders open their session with some version of the same routine — check the charts, glance at the news, maybe look at VIX. It's scattered. Some days you spend 20 minutes on pre-market prep. Some days you open your platform cold.

The Market Brief is MICROEDGE's answer to that problem. It's a single, structured snapshot of market conditions generated fresh every 15 minutes — live index prices, four key gauges, the key bullish and bearish factors in play, and a plain-language AI take on how the day sets up for futures traders specifically.

It's free. You don't need an account to see it. Here's exactly what's in it and how to read each piece.

What the brief looks like

This is a representative example of a Market Brief. Every section is explained below.

Reading each section

The index bar — NQ · ES · DJI

The top bar shows live prices and percentage changes for the three major US index futures: NQ (Nasdaq-100), ES (S&P 500), and DJI (Dow Jones). This is your first-pass read on broad market direction.

The most useful signal isn't the numbers themselves — it's whether they're moving together or diverging. When NQ is up 1.2% and ES is up 0.8% but DJI is down 0.3%, that's a tech-led rally that isn't broad. That changes how you think about MNQ vs MES vs YM setups for the day.

The four gauges

Each gauge is a semicircular arc that fills left to right from low to high. The position of the fill tells you where the reading sits in its historical range — not just the raw number.

VIX (Volatility Index) — measures expected volatility in the S&P 500 over the next 30 days. Below 15 is calm, 15–20 is normal, 20–25 is elevated, above 25 is fearful. For futures traders: low VIX tends to mean trending, rangebound-to-trending days. High VIX means volatile, stop-running days where tight stops get taken out. Adjust your stop distance accordingly.

Sentiment — CNN's Fear & Greed Index, 0–100. Below 25 is extreme fear, above 75 is extreme greed. Contrarians use this: extreme fear often precedes bounces, extreme greed often precedes pullbacks. For intraday traders it's more useful as a bias filter than a signal.

10Y Yield — the US 10-year Treasury yield. When yields rise sharply, growth stocks (and NQ by extension) tend to struggle. When yields fall, NQ benefits. The gauge shows you whether yields are at the low, middle, or high end of their recent range — the trend matters more than the absolute level.

Momentum — a composite reading of recent price momentum across the major indices. Strong bullish momentum means the recent trend has been consistent. Weak or bearish momentum means the recent trend has been choppy or reversing. Useful for knowing whether to trade with the trend or be more selective.

Key metrics

Four data points that give you cross-market context:

Pre-market NQ range — how many points NQ has already moved in pre-market. A large pre-market range (+150 pts) means the big move may already be in. A small range means the session may be the price discovery event.

Dollar Index (DXY) — a strong dollar is generally a headwind for commodities and risk assets. If DXY is rising sharply, crude and metals face pressure, and EM correlations affect broader sentiment.

Crude oil (WTI) — relevant if you trade MCL or CL directly, but also as a macro indicator. Rising crude on geopolitical factors vs rising crude on demand strength tell very different stories.

10Y–2Y spread — the yield curve. When this is negative (inverted), it's historically a recession signal. Not useful for intraday trading directly, but gives context to why bonds and equities might be behaving unusually.

Bullish and bearish factors

Two items each — the most relevant things in play that day, written for futures traders. These aren't generic macro summaries. They're specifically filtered for what matters to a CME intraday trader in the next session.

Read these as reasons why a trend might continue or fail, not as trading signals. If the bearish factor is "elevated yields are a headwind for growth" and you're considering a multi-hour NQ long, that's relevant. If you're scalping a 10-tick MNQ setup, it probably isn't.

The Take

This is the AI-generated synthesis — Claude's read on how the session sets up, written specifically for futures traders. It pulls together the index moves, VIX level, yield environment, and bullish/bearish factors into a single directional view with specific context for prop firm traders.

The Take includes a bias tag: Bullish, Bearish, or Neutral. This isn't a trade recommendation — it's the most probable framing for how the day sets up based on current conditions.

How to use it in your pre-market routine

The Market Brief isn't meant to replace your chart analysis — it's meant to give you the macro context that makes your chart analysis more accurate. Here's the 5-minute routine:

1. Check the index bar first. Are all three up, down, or mixed? Set your directional bias for the session in 10 seconds.

2. Check VIX. Below 18 — normal stops are fine. Above 22 — widen stops or reduce size. Above 28 — consider sitting out or being very selective.

3. Read The Take. Does the AI bias match your chart read? If they conflict, that's worth knowing before you place your first order.

4. Note the one bearish factor most relevant to your instrument. If you're trading NQ and the bearish factor is yield pressure on growth, that's your session risk. It doesn't stop you from trading — it tells you what could invalidate your bullish setups faster than normal.

Where to find it

The Market Brief lives in the MICROEDGE app — click the ● MARKET BRIEF button in the top bar. It's free for all users. No sign-in required to read it, though your session history of The Take is saved if you're signed in.

It generates fresh data every 15 minutes during market hours, pulling live prices for NQ, ES, and DJI futures, plus VIX, the Fear & Greed Index, crude, and yield data. Claude synthesizes all of it into the Take — the whole thing takes about 30 seconds to generate.

Further reading