summary: WIP changes throughout the day — before the session starts you'll see a countdown, during the session it updates live, and after the session closes it shows a countdown to the next session.
WIP isn't static — it changes depending on where you are in the trading day. what you see before a session starts, during it, and after it ends are 3 different states. here's what to expect at each stage.
for futures, each WIP card is tied to the active front-month contract. to see exactly which contract a card is tracking, hover over its ticker and the contract symbol appears — e.g. MESM6 for the front-month MES contract. that matches the rollover-aware feed edgeful uses, so if the symbol changes mid-week, see futures contract rollovers for the why.
premarket — before the session starts
when you open WIP before your selected session begins, you'll see a countdown to the session start. no setup data is displayed yet.
this is expected behavior — WIP needs the session to be live before it can show setup states. the countdown tells you exactly how long until the data kicks in.
live session — during the session
once the session opens, WIP is fully active. setup states update in real time as market conditions change — setups move between in play, forming, and completed as price action unfolds.
this is when WIP is most useful. use it to see what's active right now, what's developing, and what's already played out — all in one view.
post-market — after the session ends
when the session closes, WIP shows a countdown to the next session. setup data from the session that just ended is no longer displayed.
if you want to review how the session played out — which setups triggered, which completed, which didn't fire — do that before the session ends while the data is still live.
checking a different session
if you switch to a different session on WIP while it's in a countdown state, the countdown will update to reflect when that session starts. if that session is currently live, WIP will display its setup data immediately.
this is useful if you trade multiple sessions — you can check the London session data while waiting for NY to open, for example.
a quick note on terminology
two terms trip people up on WIP, and both come back to how edgeful defines a trading day. futures roll to a new day at 6:00 PM ET — not midnight — so "day" almost always means session, not calendar day.
PDH / PDL — previous session high / low. it's the high or low of the prior completed session (the prior NY, London, or Asian session), not the high or low of the previous calendar day. on a futures "by session" report this is the level WIP references
opening candle — the first candle of the session. on NY that's the candle that opens at 9:30 AM ET (not 9:15). the ORB window measures the first 15 minutes (9:30 - 9:45) and IB measures the first hour (9:30 - 10:30)
if a level on WIP looks like it's pointing at the wrong day or the wrong candle, it's almost always this — the session boundary, not a data error. for the full picture, see why your edgeful data doesn't match TradingView: the 6pm session rollover explained.
related articles
how to use what's in play → full guide to using WIP during the session
understanding setup states on what's in play → what each state means
futures contract rollovers → why the contract symbol changes mid-week