A crypto trader does not operate in a vacuum. Broad market conditions — risk-on or risk-off — often colour how every asset behaves on a given day. The futures market reference dashboard puts a handful of those signals in one place: Dow futures, stock futures, the S&P 500, and the NASDAQ. It is context, and only context. It is firmly not a trade recommendation.
What is on the dashboard
- Dow futures — a read on where the broad equity market is leaning ahead of the cash session.
- Stock futures — the wider futures backdrop for the session to come.
- The S&P 500 — the benchmark most often used as shorthand for "the market".
- The NASDAQ — a tech-weighted index that often moves with risk appetite.
What it is for
The dashboard answers one question: what is the broad mood? A clearly risk-off backdrop in equities is useful context for a crypto session, in the same way a weather forecast is useful before a drive. It can inform how cautious you are or how you size, as part of your own process.
What it is firmly not for
This is a reference view, not a signal. It does not tell you to buy or sell anything, in crypto or in equities, and a green or red screen is not an instruction. Treating market context as a trade trigger is exactly the kind of headline-chasing the platform's discipline is built to avoid. Your rules still decide; the dashboard only informs.
For the crypto-specific view that sits alongside it, see reading the volatility dashboard and the original futures and index reference for crypto. For why chasing the day's headlines tends to lose money, the education pillar covers it. Reference only — never advice, and no profit is promised.