8:44 am Eastern  - It happened again - a level we had on the board to be used for the regular session yesterday continued to be important during the Globex session after the closing bell. The bull axis of 678.27 that gave us trouble when price rallied through it, turned into support again when price got back down there. And during overnight session and pre-market sessions this morning, there was still some fighting going on in that area. For today, we have a bear axis at 676.64. If the rejection at the trendline holds and price is pushed down more, the 676.64 level is a place the bears want to be under and close under to make the bear case better. There were some somewhat bearish signals on some of the charts yesterday. Like, the 4-hour and the 2-hour charts, in particular. Price could retrace some of those reversal candles, but ultimately, that kind of rejection at an important level - in this case, the trendline we pointed out yesterday - usually means there are lower prices coming. 

Speaking of the trendline, the level at 681.77 is slightly above where the trendline is now. The trendline runs from about 681.35 down to 680.10 by the close of the regular session today. We're using 681.77 as the bull axis. If price can get above there and close candles of increasing significance above 681.77, then the bulls could make the aforementioned reversal signals null and void.

Other than the axis levels, the other levels are typical. Notice the zone up at 685.04 to 685.80. That zone can be looked at as one fat level. Scaling in on the short side tends to work at zones like that, where the levels are close together. But be aware of your position size and adjust accordingly. As I write this, it's a few minutes after 8:30 am EST. We had some CPI news drop and now we're going to see if that affects price. Currently, it's keeping price under the bear axis level of 676.64.

Also, don't forget the big zone between 675.00 and 672.00. It's still the place where the bulls need to defend to keep the big picture from becoming more bearish. Yesterday, the 675 area - the top of the zone - is where the bulls ramped up and got price to rally for a bit. Those levels aren't on the board today, but from a big picture perspective, just know that that whole zone is the line in the sand that will likely determine the next leg in the market for the SPY. Also, it's worth noting that the DJT and the IWM aren't necessarily strong right now. Keep an eye on those indexes, as they tend to lead the SPY. No other data releases of significance scheduled for today. Trade well.

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

Bear axis at 676.64 was the only level hit today. During the regular session, at least. At least one Base Hit was possible, if you played by the rules. The level was hit as price fell into it at 9:49 am. The bounce that gave you the Base Hit happened after only a few minutes. That trade was on the long side. Then the bulls really tried to defend the level leading up to and at 10:00 am. But price got pushed back down to the 676.64 level again, and while they did bounce again, the bulls failed to hold it, and price got under the level.

Now you were looking for an opportunity to take a Recycle Trade on the short side if price were to get back up to the level the correct way. They got close at 11:26 am, but not enough time had elapsed from when price got under and stayed under the level - to attempt a Recycle Trade at 11:26 am. It would have been a Near Miss anyway. Because of that price action, the next time price tested that level from the underside, taking a Recycle Trade was trader's choice. There was a retest at 1:01 pm and price missed the Operating Level by a few pennies, tried again a few times, but fell away before tagging the actual level. So that behavior took the level off the table for any more short side trades. Of course, as it often happens, the level still worked and acted as overhead resistance and eventually pushed price down a decent number of points. We're only counting the one official Base Hit for the day, though. 

And by the way, if you're following along with these Daily Recaps, I hope you're noticing that there are no creative liberties taken in regard to whether a trade was profitable or not when traded against these levels. Today for example, the level at 676.64 was, in fact resistance once price got under it and stayed under it or the right amount of time - and had a trader chosen to go short in the E-minis at about 1:01 pm or a little after, and held onto that position, do you think he or she would have made money? Yes, almost certainly. The level was good. But we treat each trade the same way, according to our set of rules.

That's why we're not taking creative liberties and saying something like, "see?...  the level worked as resistance at 1:28 pm, so there's Base Hit number 2". No, we need to be precise and mechanical with this process. That is the edge. And the resulting profits and losses are reflected in the Tracking Log. The long-term results speak for themselves. If you had these levels each morning, do you think you could make money with them? Food for thought..

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