AI futures chart analysis you can count in ticks.

Every chart gets the same four parts in the same order, whether it is NQ on the 1-minute or crude on the daily. On a futures contract, the useful unit is the tick: a level is a price, and the stop is the number of ticks between the entry and the invalidation. The category overview, with the same read on stocks, forex and crypto, is on AI chart analysis for trading.

The trend, on the timeframe you captured

A 2-minute NQ chart of the open and a daily ES chart answer different questions. The read describes the swing structure in the image, higher highs and higher lows, lower ones, or a range, and names the contract and timeframe when they are in the legend.

Levels as prices, on the tick grid

Support and resistance come back as prices you can find on your own axis, each marked strong, moderate or weak: the overnight high, the prior day's close, a level price turned at twice. A level quoted from a compressed axis is an estimate, so check it on your chart.

Two weighted scenarios

A bullish and a bearish case, each with the structure that would carry it and its own invalidation. Each carries a percentage; the two add up to 100 and neither goes above 90.

An invalidation you can count in ticks

The setup gives an entry zone, a stop at the invalidation level and one or two targets, as prices, plus scalp, intraday and swing versions of the same setup. The distance between entry and stop, in ticks, is the number your contract count depends on.

NQ, ES, CL and GC: ticks and tick values

The read quotes prices. What a move in price costs depends on the contract, and CME fixes it in each contract’s specification:

Source: CME Group contract specifications, checked October 22, 2026. Exchanges can change a specification; your platform’s contract details are the final word.

Ticks of risk = the distance between the entry and the stop, divided by the tick. Dollars at risk = ticks x tick value x contracts. A stop 20 points from the entry on NQ is 80 ticks: $400.00 per NQ contract, $40.00 per MNQ. The level is the same on both charts; the bill is ten times smaller.

That is why the micros exist, and why sizing off habit is dangerous on futures: the chart justifies a distance, and only the contract count decides what that distance costs. The position size calculator does the division once you know your risk per trade.

Globex sessions and the cash open

A futures chart can show nearly 23 hours a day, five days a week, and the same contract behaves very differently across them. Hours as CME Group lists them, checked October 22, 2026:

Globex: Sunday 6 p.m. to Friday 5 p.m. ET

NQ, ES, CL and GC trade nearly around the clock on CME Globex, with a one-hour pause every afternoon from 5 to 6 p.m. ET. CME publishes the same hours in Central Time: 5 p.m. to 4 p.m. CT.

The cash open for NQ and ES

The stocks under the index trade from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET, and that is where index futures volume concentrates. Overnight levels form on thinner trade and are often reworked after the open.

Scheduled data for CL and GC

Crude reacts to the weekly US inventory report, usually Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. ET. Gold, like the index contracts, reacts to US data at 8:30 a.m. ET and to Fed decisions.

Many platforms can show either the full Globex session or only the regular hours, and the two give different highs, lows and averages. Say which one your chart shows in the note with the upload, and keep the time axis legible: without it, the read sees candles, not clock times, and cannot tell an overnight drift from the open.

Continuous contracts and the roll: NQ1! is not one contract

Every futures contract expires. NQ and ES list quarterly contracts, March, June, September and December, that stop trading on the third Friday of the month; the December 2026 contracts expire on Friday, December 18, 2026, and volume moves to March 2027 in the days before. CL lists a contract for every month.

A continuous chart such as NQ1! or ES1! on TradingView splices those contracts together: it follows the front contract and switches to the next one at expiry. Back-adjustment is off by default, so the series can jump at each switch by the price gap between the two contracts, a move nobody traded. The B-ADJ setting smooths it, at the cost of older prices that never printed.

For the read, the difference is real: a level from the expiring contract is not the same price on the next one. Keep the symbol in the legend, NQ1!, NQZ2026 or your platform’s name for it, and say in the note whether the chart is back-adjusted.

Prop firm evaluations: the read first, then the rules

Futures evaluations are usually lost to a rule, not to a chart: the daily loss limit, the trailing drawdown, a contract cap. A read helps with the part before the trade, the level, the invalidation and the stop distance in ticks, written down before the first click.

The rest is arithmetic against your firm’s own rules. The prop firm challenge calculator shows what the target and the loss limits require of each trade, and prop firm challenge chart review with AI walks through an ES and NQ pre-trade record step by step. Bullynx is not affiliated with any prop firm and never sees your evaluation account.

AI chart analysis for NQ, ES, CL and GC futures

The read is the same discipline on every contract. What changes is the range, the session that matters and the news that moves it:

NQ and MNQ

Tech-weighted and wide-ranging: a day of a few hundred points is ordinary. The same stop in points costs ten times more on NQ than on MNQ. NAS100 chart analysis

ES and MES

The broad index: narrower in points than NQ, and the reference most other markets watch during US hours. SPY chart analysis

CL

A contract for every month and wide ranges with clean horizontal edges. A continuous chart jumps at every roll. USOIL chart analysis

GC

Gold futures and spot XAUUSD track each other but trade at different prices, and gold needs a wider invalidation than habit suggests. AI gold chart analysis

Trading the open on NQ or ES? Every read also gives scalp, intraday and swing versions of the setup, explained on AI day trading chart analysis.

What it cannot see on a futures chart

Six limits, stated plainly. A screenshot is a picture of trades that already happened, on one contract, at one moment.

• See the depth of market, the footprint or the order flow, unless they are in the image, and even then not live
• Tell a single contract from a continuous series, or see a roll in the history, unless the legend says so
• Know the economic calendar: CPI, payrolls, Fed decisions or the oil inventory report
• Know your margin, your commission, your contract limit or the rules of a prop firm evaluation
• Connect to Tradovate, NinjaTrader, TopstepX, Rithmic or any broker, see your positions, or place an order
• Tell you whether to enter. You get a bias, two scenarios and an invalidation level, not a signal

What AI futures chart analysis costs

Bullynx sells three things, and there is no free plan. One analysis is $9.99, a one-time payment for the full read of one chart, without Lynx chat. Monthly is $39 a month for 50 chart analyses a month and Lynx chat, cancel anytime. Lifetime is $149 once for the same limits for life, 50 chart analyses every month and Lynx chat, with no subscription.

Monthly comes with a 14-day money-back guarantee on your first non-zero subscription charge. One analysis and Lifetime are one-time purchases and are final. What each plan includes is on Bullynx pricing.

Frequently asked questions

Can AI analyze futures charts?

Yes, from a screenshot. Capture the chart with the contract, the timeframe and the price axis visible, upload the image, and the read returns the trend on that timeframe, the key levels as prices, a bullish and a bearish scenario, and the invalidation point. It works on index, energy, metal and other futures from any platform.

Does the read give the stop in ticks?

It gives the stop as a price, at the invalidation level, along with the entry zone and the targets. The ticks are one division: on NQ, where the tick is 0.25 points, a stop 20 points from the entry is 80 ticks, or $400.00 per NQ contract and $40.00 per MNQ.

Does it read micro contracts like MNQ and MES?

Yes. A micro trades on the same price scale as its E-mini, so the levels in the read are the same. Only the dollar value of each tick changes: it is a tenth of the E-mini, so redo the arithmetic for the contract you actually trade.

Does it work with TopstepX, Tradovate and NinjaTrader charts?

Yes. The read works on an image, so it does not matter which platform drew it. Bullynx never connects to a futures broker, a platform or a prop firm account: screenshot the chart, keep the contract and the price axis in frame, and upload it.

Is Bullynx a free futures chart analyzer?

No. Bullynx has no free plan and no free trial: you upload the chart, pay, and the read runs on it. One analysis is $9.99, a one-time payment for the full read of one chart, without Lynx chat. Monthly is $39 a month for 50 chart analyses a month and Lynx chat, cancel anytime. Lifetime is $149 once for the same limits for life, 50 chart analyses every month and Lynx chat, with no subscription.

Can it help me pass a prop firm evaluation?

It can write down the levels and the invalidation before you trade, which is what an evaluation punishes you for skipping. It does not know your firm's rules, does not see your account and does not trade for you. Check the daily loss limit and the drawdown against your stop with the prop firm challenge calculator.

Last updated October 22, 2026 · Educational only. Not financial advice.