9:22 am Eastern  - After  Friday's close, price dipped a little, and then got a lift in the premarket at 4:00 am Eastern this morning. Price is currently about 60 S&P points or so above Friday's close. What we're seeing is the bounce from support from the bottom of a daily bull consolidation pattern that we discussed in the Weekly Recap video, posted last night. Check out that video to learn more about the mechanics of what that consolidation pattern looks like and where it could play out if it holds - and where you would know if the pattern fails. I'll just point out here, that even with a good effort by the bulls currently to climb up from the lows from last Friday, price is still below the longer-term zone. The low of that zone is 672. So the bulls would need to get into the zone, fight through the resistance contained within it, and then break out above it and the trendline we talked about in the Recap Video. Anything is possible, and we can't forget that the uber big picture is bullish (weekly and monthly charts). But we can't forget about all the room the bears have to pull price down for a bigger reset. Instead of worrying or speculating about where price might go to in the near to mid-term - like days or weeks from now - if we just focus on pulling Base Hits at levels where there there is a high probability of bull-bear battles, we can steadily pull points and dollars from the market intraday. To me, that is key. No keeping positions open overnight. That approach has worked for me for years when it comes to trading the futures. 

All the levels for today are typical. If price approaches them the right way, they are designed for Base Hit counter-trend trades. Understanding the big picture - as we talked about in the Weekly Recap video - can help you in determining the importance of certain levels and maybe even give you the confidence to jump on board and ride momentum for longer, if/when you see price react at levels and zones that are important in the big picture.

The level for today at 662.29 is Friday's close. If price gets down there, the bulls need to defend that area. There are levels of support below it, but over all, it would not be a good look for the bulls if they lose the battle down there. It could open the door to lower prices. Right now, price is climbing and the bulls would probably like to get back into the zone and try to get through it. But it could be a challenge.

This is an FOMC week. After the Tuesday-Wednesday meeting, there will likely be increased volatility starting around the culmination of the Fed meeting - which is at 2:00 pm Wednesday. Today and tomorrow and Wednesday morning would typically be slow leading up to the 2:00 pm announcement on Wednesday. Usually price finds its destination in the SPY ahead of this kind of Fed news, and doesn't start moving a lot until 2:00 pm on Wednesday. But I would venture to say that there's a decent chance for there to be some volatility leading up to Wednesday. Maybe not, but price has already gotten itself into a pivotal position - in the SPY and other markets. Remember what we talked about concerning the DJT in the weekly recap video? This week could get interesting. Buckle up. Trade well today.

Trading by the Ticks & Trades Strategy, here is where you would have landed for the day:

After the close of the first 15-minute candle, price was above the 669.29 level and it jumped up about 10 ES points or so before coming back down into the level. Then an interesting thing happened at 9:50 am. Price didn't get to the operating level in the SPY, but in the futures, the ES dipped down and would have pulled you into the long trade at the equivalent level in the ES. I had a trade activation set up in the system so that if SPY came down and hit 669.34 (the operating level), then a long trade would be entered in the ES (at the market) with a few contracts. But the ES hit the level and took off before the SPY got close enough. So, for me that was a Near Miss. Price did come back into this level later in the day, and we'll discuss than in a moment.

Meanwhile, price got up to the next level higher at 671.30, hit it, and pulled away cleanly. That was your official Base Hit trade for the day. When price got back down to 669.29, if you decided to trade against it again, despite the fact that the long trade had already been satisfied earlier at 9:50 - if you decided to go long there again at 10:34 am, the next time price got back to it - the trade was a wash. Price reacted, but not enough for a Base Hit. It came within 10 cents in the SPY of the profit objective. Jumping out of the trade at breakeven was the plan. 

Then price got under the 669.29 level and at around 10:55 am, price came back up into it. That was barely enough time to attempt a Recycle Trade, but there was a Near Miss of the profit objective, so another wash on that Recycle Trade. 

After that, price didn't hit any other levels the right way to trigger any other trades. It hit the 671.30 level again at 3:10 pm and it was still resistance, but we didn't trade against it again because the first hit is the best hit. We're willing to let some trades like this go, because the alternative sometimes isn't pretty when a level is retested the second or third time. Those can be the times when the level is ignored and not only is there no counter-trend reaction, price can bust through with a vengeance. That's why we have rules. 

Per the rules, a total of 4 ES points for the day.