Set up your first futures workspace

Choose the product before choosing the picture

Futures analysis starts with instrument identity. A product root such as ES represents a contract-selection request, while a dated symbol identifies a particular expiry. Micros and larger contracts are separate instruments even when their price paths are closely related. The current book, executed volume, drawings and historical session profile all need the matching actual contract. Begin with one supported product that your source is permitted to provide. Seeing a name in the catalog is useful for selection, but does not guarantee that the current provider account can supply its exchange data.

Open a clean Order Flow view

The dedicated Order Flow page puts the main choices in a compact controls bar. Use a modest initial window so you can learn the layers before loading a longer range.

1. Open Order Flow in the outer navigation.
2. Use the watchlist management controls to add a futures product or listed dated contract, then select its row.
3. Read the resolved contract and exchange wherever the quote or chart details expose them.
4. Choose Bubbles, Footprint or Candles in Mode. Start with 15 minutes of Lookback and a 1-minute Interval if those fit your investigation.
5. Open Settings and inspect source, capture coverage and depth synchronization before interpreting the drawing.

Separate the three main display modes

Bubbles emphasizes qualified execution bursts over the available liquidity and price layers. Footprint organizes classified executions into candle intervals and price rows. Candles provides an OHLC presentation of the captured execution path. Mode changes what is drawn; it does not grant another source or repair missing history. Lookback controls the visible duration, while Interval controls candle aggregation. A three-hour view can therefore use five-minute candles. The right-side full-session profile and Delta column have their own session scope and do not become three-hour totals merely because Lookback is three hours.

Learn the difference between book and executions

Order Book shows synchronized current displayed bid and ask quantities. The heatmap represents captured resting liquidity over time. Footprint cells, trade rows and Volume Profile describe executions. A historical trade proves an admitted execution occurred at a price; it does not prove resting depth was recorded there. Likewise, a bright heatmap level is displayed size under your thresholds, not a promise of a future fill. Unknown execution direction remains separate from classified buying and selling, so visible total volume can exceed the sum used by a directional interpretation.

Arrange complementary tools in Map

Map → Futures provides Depth Map, Footprint, DOM, Order Flow and OHLC tabs for working with the same families of evidence in a configurable layout. Keep complementary views together and confirm that each widget requests the same product or dated contract. The dashboard's native futures views share a leased symbol rather than opening an independent upstream connection for every panel. A view on another symbol can show a queued state with Take over. Use that control only when you intend to make the other instrument the dashboard's active streamed selection.

Practice navigation before adding more signals

Pan through the captured time window and observe how the view changes when you return to Live. Manual PRICE-axis gestures alter the displayed price range and disable automatic scaling. Double-click PRICE, press Home or use Auto scale price to restore fitting. Open View to choose the visible heatmap, bid/ask lines, profile and Delta column, then add detail gradually. Pause retains a displayed frame for inspection. Looking at older executions does not rewind the current synchronized book, so read the clock and layer labels together when comparing the chart with its ladder.

Save a usable template and diagnose missing layers

Use the template picker beside Refresh data when you want a named reusable setup. New starts with standard Bubbles defaults rather than copying the current draft. Adjust the configuration and use Save for the selected record. If executions appear but depth is unavailable, investigate source synchronization instead of assuming the chart renderer is broken. Historical depth gaps cannot be reconstructed from today's book. When contacting support, include the selected product, resolved expiry, exchange, lookback, interval, mode and the exact source or coverage message. OrderMap's DOM is read-only and does not place, amend or cancel orders.