9:09 am Eastern  -  The bulls are keeping price above yesterday's bear axis and trying to stay out of the danger zone (which is down at the 675 level and below). Remember the bull axis from yesterday? It was 686.18. Look what price did in the premarket this morning. At 4:00 am Eastern, price gapped up and immediately went to that bull axis level of 686.18. They've been hanging around that area for several hours. The level is still important, and you'll see it on the chart today as a dotted, light blue line. It's still a gateway to higher prices if the bulls can fight to get above and stay above, but I'm not sure I'd trade against it unless there are other reasons present in real time that increase its validity. There is a level under it at 685.57 which is more of a tradeable level for today. If price is under this area at the opening bell, and they come up into 685.57 the right way and at the right time, you can think of 686.18 as a safety net for going short against 685.57. 

If the bulls can get above that zone and start closing candles of significance above it, they're likely targeting the next zone up between 688.80 to 689.43. Remember, 700 is still a target in the big picture. There is just more resistance the bulls need to fight through now to get back up to the highs. Each of the levels (and aforementioned zone between 688.80 and 689.43) above current price is a place where the bulls are likely to meet resistance if they try to grind higher today. It will be important to understand what price is doing on the larger timeframes as it relates to indicators on those charts. There are some convergences of moving averages above price right now. That kind of thing will usually cause overhead resistance for price. So reactions are generally expected.

But if bullish momentum is high, and price can get above those moving average / retracement convergence areas, that's a good sign that the bulls have the ball for the time being. Each time price gets near the highs for the past month or longer, there is something that spooks the market and the bulls drop the ball. One of two things can happen eventually: either this sideways consolidation builds up enough energy for the bulls to bust above the highs and spike 700. They might even get another leg in the upward direction. Like, a short squeeze could happen. Or another possibility is that we're looking at a long-term slow motion rollover in the greater market. And the next long term leg in the market is down. For that to become more of a possibility, they still need to get daily closes below that 675.00 to 673.50 zone as we've said a few times already. That is the first line in the sand for the bulls. Today, price is still just in the middle of stuff and can go either direction.

The interim bear axis for today is 676.90. There could still be a battle there - if price gets down there today - that could caused the bulls to come out and play defense. But getting below and closing candles of significance below is better for the bears. That would open the door to the line in the sand we were just talking about.

There might be some movement in the market at 2:00 pm Eastern today, when FOMC meeting minutes are released. But it's not exactly new news. But it's good to be aware of it nonetheless. Trade well today!

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

Today was interesting. The levels were important and price respected them, and following the rules kept you out of trouble. But being precise about the process meant no trades taken today at all. For myself, I did not take any creative liberties, and followed the rules exactly. So, no trades for me either.

Here's what you did today, per the rules: During the 9:45 am candle, price got within Near Miss territory of 685.57 and pulled away significantly. Almost 20 ES points pretty quickly. So while the close of that first 15-minute candle put price under 685.57, it happened to close to our 15-minute window being opened, that it was worth noting. I made the decision to not go short against 685.57 if price got back up there soon. But even still, when price did climb back up to that level, there was an official Near Miss as price missed the Operating Level and pulled back enough for a Base Hit - without the level being triggered. So, no short trade there per the rules. 

Price kept going though the bull axis level from yesterday at 686.18. We weren't trading against this level anyway, as spelled out in the Game Plan from the morning - it was a gauge to see if the bulls could keep the ball and climb more. No trade there.

Then price got up to 688.80 and another Near Miss happened at 10:57 am. Price got close, but not close enough to trigger the short trade against the operating level of 688.75. Two pennies away, before pulling back enough to call that move an attempted Base Hit. So since the first hit is the best hit, we don't tempt fate and try to short a level like this again if price revisits it. This was a no-trade here. Another Near Miss. As you can see though, the level and zone was important because it provided resistance eventually and pushed price back down. 

Price got pushed back down to the former axis level of 686.18 and bounced. But again, we were using that level as a gauge - not to trade against. So nothing until price got back down to the original level that price got above in the morning, 685.57. At 2:32 pm, there was yet another Near Miss, taking the Recycle Trade off the table. So, we didn't go long against 685.57. Sure enough, price got under the level, which would have made a long position tricky to manage. Better to not get into a trade and make no money than to get into a risky trade that goes against you where you stand to lose money if you can't manage it correctly. Net-net, no trades entered for the day and no points or dollars gained.

Interesting that price closed the day just pennies on top of that bull axis level of 686.18. Technically, they're still on top. Let's see if the bulls can keep it that way through tomorrow and Friday. Price is still in the middle of stuff. We're waiting on a bigger move to happen - and it will, sooner than later probably. 

Per the rules, a total of 0 ES points for the day.