Thursday 03/18/2010 - E-Mini S&P 500 Futures Review/Analysis

E-Mini S&P 500 Futures Review/Analysis
Price bounced off the Initial Support area in overnight trading, and stopped 1 tick ahead of the Overnight Resistance Level after the open. From there, we got a lot of narrow range chop, but price remained below 1162.50 and then broke below the IB Low. From there, we got a minor bounce ahead of Initial Support, which was sold into pushing price 1 tick below Initial Support. Price formed a double-bottom at Initial Support and went on to test the IB Low and ended up closing above the mid-point and VPOC, but below the Overnight Resistance. The fact that price couldn't even test the overnight resistance during the day session signals weakness. Market internals closed on weakness as well, and we may finally get that pullback everyone's been anticipating for days now. Price is currently in a neutral area, and built some acceptance in the 1159-1161 area over the last two days. I'll chalk up the choppy price action this week to quadruple witching and the fact that we're at new yearly highs, so consolidation is to be expected. Next week should be more happening (keeping fingers crossed)!

ES 5-Minute Chart


ES 30-Min Volume Profile Chart


ES Day Session Volume Profile Chart

Thursday 03/18/2010 - S&P 500 Futures Key Support/Resistance Levels

E-Mini S&P 500 Futures
The Bull/Bear Line in Sand for tomorrow is 1154. Based on the recent price action and market internals/breadth, the near-term bias is Bullish. The challenge in this kind of market is to keep the personal bias in check, and read the market with an open mind. Can the market fall 15-20 points tomorrow? Sure could, but I'm not going to close my mind to a possible move into the upper 1170s. Both scenarios are possible, and as day traders, we must keep the bias in check and trade what's in front of us. If you get good trade location on your Short positions, take advantage of it and try to hold for a larger move down. Tomorrow's focus will be the Jobless Claims data out at 7:30 AM (CT); so the best trade location may only be available in pre-market.

Econ Data
Consumer Price Index and Jobless Claims at 7:30 AM (CT), Leading Indicators and Philadelphia Fed Survey at 9:00 AM (CT), and EIA Natural Gas Report at 9:30 AM (CT).

ES - Daily Chart with Volume Profile and Key Levels

Thursday 02/18/2010 - E-Mini S&P 500 Futures Review/Analysis

E-Mini S&P 500 Futures Review/Analysis
The Key Levels and Scenario played out beautifully today! The 1094.25-1096.25 area even provided a nice bounce on the after-hours Fed rate announcement, which caused the ES to dump 10.25 points in a single 5-minute bar. I was expecting a pullback in that 1106-1107 area anyway, so I'm not too concerned about the after-hours drop. I see that quick move down as mostly hedging activity and will look towards tomorrow's Cash Open and Initial Balance for clarity on direction. Bias will be Bullish if ES holds 1093 Level in the overnight Globex session.

ES 5-Minute Chart for 02/18/10


ES 30-Min Volume Profile Chart for 02/18/10


ES Day Session Volume Profile Chart for 02/18/10

Thursday 02/18/2010 - S&P 500 Futures Key Support/Resistance Levels

E-Mini S&P 500 Futures
I was going over some of my posts from December, 2009 and here we are two months later with the S&P 500 trading in the same price area. Check out the Key Levels post for Tuesday 12/15/2009 and Thursday 12/17/2009 -- notice how the Key Levels from then and now coincide. You can also check out the Market Review/Analysis posts for 12/15/09 and 12/17/09 to get an idea of how price reacted last time we were trading in this area. My bias is bullish above 1198.75, bearish below 1094 and neutral to bullish in between. That being said, I'm anticipating rotation in the Strong Support/Resistance Areas regardless of direction.

Econ Data
Producer Price Index and Jobless Claims at 7:30 AM (cst), Leading Indicators and Philadelphia Fed Survey at 9:00 AM (cst), EIA Natural Gas Report at 9:30 AM (cst), and EIA Petroleum Status Report at 10:00 AM (cst).

ES - Daily Chart with Volume Profile and Key Levels

Thursday 01/21/2010 - E-Mini S&P 500 Futures Review/Analysis

E-Mini S&P 500 Futures Review/Analysis
Today's scenario is something I've been anticipating since last week. That's why I was surprised on Tuesday when ES broke 1127 and ended up bouncing to 1146+. Today's price action was great: rapid but structured price movement, with bounces to prior support -- I wish we had more days like today (in both directions).

ES 5-Minute Chart for 01/21/10

Key Support/Resistance Levels (S&P 500 Futures) for Thursday 01/21/2010

E-Mini S&P 500 Futures
I'm looking for a break out of this range (1125-1148); doesn't matter if it's to the upside or downside. If we make it back to 1145+, I would anticipate a test and extension of this year's high (1148). The other scenario is a clean break to the downside. And of course, we could just consolidate in the range as well. My near-term bias is bullish above 1130.

Econ Data
Jobless Claims at 7:30 AM (cst), Leading Indicators and Philadelphia Fed Survey at 9:00 AM (cst), EIA Natural Gas Report at 9:30 AM (cst),
and EIA Petroleum Status Report at 10:00 AM (cst).

ES - Volume Profile and Upside Key Levels


ES - Volume Profile and Downside Key Levels