# Key Levels, Trade Plan & Replay

> The Futures right panel - Key Levels, Time & Sales and Session CVD - the Cortex-written Trade Plan, and Session Replay for reviewing how the map developed.

Source: https://tradeecho.com/docs/features/futures/trade-plan-and-replay (updated 2026-09-27)

The map shows you the battlefield; the right panel and Replay turn it into decisions and lessons.

## The Right Panel: Key Levels, Time & Sales and CVD {#right-panel}

The top of the right panel has three cards, above the Trade Plan.

### Key Levels

One merged list of the session's reference prices, sorted high to low, with a **Last** row that moves with live price so you always see what is above and what is below.

| Family | Levels |
|--------|--------|
| **VWAP** | Session VWAP and RTH VWAP, each with 1 and 2 standard deviation bands |
| **Overnight** | Overnight high and low |
| **Initial balance** | High and low of the first 60 minutes of RTH (shown once the hour is complete) |
| **Opening range** | 15 and 30 minute opening range |
| **Prior day** | Prior day high, low and close |
| **Settlement** | Prior settlement. When the official exchange settlement is not available, an approximation is used and labelled as such. |
| **Profile** | Session POC, VAH and VAL (marked developing while the session builds), plus the prior session's POC, VAH and VAL. A prior POC that price has not traded back to this session is flagged **naked**. |
| **Dealer gamma** | Call wall, put wall, gamma flip, gamma anchor and the other largest gamma levels from the cash index options, mapped onto the future via the basis (equity-index contracts only; see [Gamma on Futures](https://tradeecho.com/docs/features/futures/gamma-on-futures)) |

Each row shows the price and the **distance from live price in points and ticks** (for example `+4.25 / 17t` above price, `-2.00 / 8t` below). Colors match the level family.

- **Click a level** to highlight it on the chart. If it is off-screen, the chart widens its price range to show it. Click it again to clear.
- The **Levels** layer in the toolbar draws the key levels on the chart. With the layer off, the level you clicked still shows.
- Chips in the card header show the contract, **STALE** if the levels have stopped refreshing, **SIMULATED** when prices are not live market data, and **AS OF** a time in Replay.

Levels refresh about every 20 seconds while live.

### Time & Sales

The live tape for **ES and NQ** (other contracts show a note), newest print first: time, price, size, side and notional.

- **Side is inferred** (B or S) with the tick rule, not reported by the exchange.
- **Large prints are tinted.** Pick the threshold in the card header: $5M, $10M, $25M (default), $50M or $100M notional. Your choice is remembered.
- **Pause on hover.** Hover the list to freeze it while you read. A **PAUSED** chip counts the new prints waiting; move the pointer away to catch up.

### Session CVD

A sparkline of cumulative volume delta for the session with the running total. Buy and sell side are inferred from the tick rule, the same as the CVD strip under the map.

### On narrower screens

The three cards collapse behind a **Levels · Tape · CVD** toggle at the top of the right panel. Tap it to open or close them; the page remembers your choice. On small screens and phones the right panel stacks below the map.

The panel is built from trades, bars and top-of-book quotes.

## The Trade Plan (right rail)

Written by **Cortex** from the live map - not a template. It re-reads the fusion of value, gamma, and flow as the session develops.

What's in it:

- **Bias chip** - bullish / bearish / neutral with a score. The dot's color matches the read; the one-line "why" underneath cites the exact prices driving it (where value was accepted, which wall price is pressing, what CVD is doing).
- **Setup line** - the day's shape in one phrase ("Fade pops into resistance", "Fade extremes - rotational").
- **Three scenarios** - **Base / Bull / Bear**, each with concrete trigger and target prices. These are if-then statements, not predictions: *"Accept above 7605.50 → 7621.25."*
- **Confirms / Invalidates / Magnet** - the three prices that tell you the plan is working, broken, or where price gravitates.
- **Key Levels with confluence scores** - every level on the map, ranked by how many independent signals stack there (gamma + volume node + session reference). A level scoring 6 is not the same trade as a level scoring 2.5.

How to use it: do not trade the plan blind. Use it as the *hypothesis*, then demand the map confirm - the scenario trigger printing with CVD agreement is the entry; the Invalidates price is your stop context.

## Session Replay

The **Replay** button (top right) rewinds the whole module to any past moment: the heatmap, volume profile, gamma levels, and price rebuild exactly as they stood at that instant - including where the walls were *then*, not where they ended the day.

Controls:

- **Date picker + scrubber** - jump to any session, drag through it
- **Play** - steps the session forward at a watchable pace
- **Bar interval works in replay** - review at 1m granularity or step a week in 1H bars
- A **REPLAY** tag and amber accent make it impossible to confuse the past with the live tape
- **Key Levels follow the playhead** - the card rebuilds the levels as they stood at that minute and shows an **AS OF** time chip
- **Largest prints instead of the live tape** - Time & Sales becomes **Replay · largest prints**, the biggest prints up to the playhead

Three ways to use it:

1. **Trade review**: replay your entry moment. Was there CVD divergence you ignored? Was the level you faded a 2.5-score or a 6-score? The map at *that* moment is the honest record of what was knowable.
2. **Pattern reps**: pick a pattern (say, absorption at the Call Wall) and scrub through the last ten sessions hunting instances. Ten minutes of replay is a hundred screenshots of study.
3. **Pre-market prep**: replay yesterday's close to see how the auction finished - who was in control at the bell tells you a lot about the overnight that follows.

Note: gamma history exists only for hours when the equity options market was open; overnight replay shows price/volume layers with the last captured gamma state labeled accordingly.

## Settings Worth Knowing

The gear menu (next to "How to read"):

- **Price overlay** - draw a close line or full candles over the heatmap if you want classic price action alongside the cells
- **Current price line** - toggle the amber live cursor
- **Panels** - hide the watchlist or the right panel (**Levels & Trade Plan**) for a full-width map (useful on laptops and for screenshots)
- **Light and dark mode** both fully supported - the map follows your platform theme

## FAQ

**Is this financial advice?** No. The Trade Plan is an analytical read of live market data - scenarios with levels, not instructions. Trade your own plan.

**Why does the plan change mid-session?** Because the inputs do. When price accepts through a wall or CVD flips, a static morning plan would be wrong; Cortex re-derives it from the current map instead.

**Does Replay include the trade plan?** Replay reconstructs the map layers (price, volume, gamma), Key Levels as of the playhead, and the largest prints. Use it with your own journal notes for the decision-review side.

**Can my AI assistant read these levels?** Yes. With Trade Echo MCP connected, `get_futures_session_levels` returns the same levels (with an optional `as_of` time in the last 14 days) and `get_futures_tape` returns the latest ES/NQ prints. See [MCP example prompts: Futures](https://tradeecho.com/docs/mcp/examples#futures).