Proper context can start the day with a solid win and make all the difference.

CHARTROOM LINK(s) o Win XP-Friendly entry o non-xp friendly (ilinc) (pre-open Market Tour begins at 8:55 ET)

Through the prior close... Wednesday's gap up to its 2043.00 bias-up target wasn't being rejected, so the morning rallied as reward for Tuesday afternoon's buyers having gained traction up to 2035.00. And then it kept rallying. The next likely objective of 2053.00 was met during the noon hour, and the potential to 2058.00-2060.00 was attacked to within 1 tick while the bias environment was lapsing. A late reaction down targeting 2051.25 stopped 1 tick short. Buyers gained traction for their efforts again, and left outstanding overbought RSIs. Overnight action's new info... Sellers stopped short on the drop into Wednesday's close. They've been thrown another bone overnight, but didn't hold on to it, either. Globex had initially bounced up to 2056.50, and then sank to touch what is this morning's 2049.00 bias-down signal. Now that has been recovered to test 2054.00, unchanged from yesterday's futures close. If, then... Today's session closes early. Trending is never more difficult except for Saturdays and Sundays. And that's without even indicating a gap. A dry cleaners gift-shopping morning? Fading the extremes may be easier than trying to position at the range's midpoint. Somehow gapping under yesterday afternoon's 2048.00 low could form a session-long decline, or just the opposite if the gap down were not maintained or extended through the open. Yesterday's traction suggests a reward due by probing fresh highs this morning, but not necessarily effortlessly like yesterday -- and not necessarily durable. First Trade... Exiting the open at 9:45 under 2048.00 would be likely to trigger the 2049.00 bias-down signal at 10:15. Exiting the open above 2053.00 would be unlikely to trigger bias-down.

Opening surge hits resistance, crawls back into its hole. The pre-open pattern that I described during the Tour had formed a setup which could surge immediately. And it did, from 2053.75 to 2057.25. Yesterday's cash session close equates to 2057.00. Its obligatory resistance was enough to end the surge. Its reaction down fell back into the pre-open pattern's range. And then through it to 2050.75. Bouncing back up to 2054.75 was retraced to 2052.00. Probing beyond either end is possible, but not required. And trending is unlikely to begin this far past the open with an early close looming. [NOTE: There is no Afternoon Bias.]

What took a half-day to accomplish was erased within a half-hour. Actually, it only took an hour -- not counting the choppy morning bias environment. It started lapsing at 2054.00 where the session had opened. And it started trending until fulfilling all the upside potential to within 1 tick of 2060.00. The last half-hour retraced it all back to 2054.00 within 3 minutes of the cash session close. The next 15 minutes extended down through the morning's 2050.75 post-open low, attacking the 2049.00 overnight low to within 2 ticks. The late plunge was spectacular, but otherwise meaningless. On a normal day, suddenly moving so steeply would be irrelevant, especially if only back within the range. Thursday is already holiday-shortened, and its morning low wasn't probed until after the cash session close. None of which requires this week's trending to resume next week. But starting the week by reacting down would have a better chance at recovering. Meanwhile... Have a wonderful holiday weekend -- see you Sunday night! Details and other markets coverage are discussed in the post-market Wrap recording here: https://roddavid10.mitel-nhwc.com/join/zvvwmws

MON morning signal (triggered at 10:15 ET) SPX ES Bias-up: above  2065.25 2057.00 ...would target  2071.00  2063.25 Bias-down: under  2054.75  2047.00 ...would target 2049.50  2041.50 Signal status: BIAS-DOWN, BIAS-DOWN TARGET EXCEEDED FAQ INTRO VIDEOS #1 and #2 1. At 10:15, trading above the bias-up signal or under the bias-down signal would put into play a test of its bias-up or bias-down target. 2. Not triggering either bias signal at 10:15 would be "no-bias," and the bias signals should define the bias environment's range. -- A test of the opposite bias signal would be targeted if one bias signal was tested before triggering no-bias. 3. Touching the bias signal within 3 minutes either way of 10:15 would invoke a grace period through 10:30 to trigger a late signal. -- "Late" signals don't require testing the opposite bias signal, but it's still likely. 4. Still testing the bias signal at 10:30 after invoking the grace period would trigger "noN-bias," with no bias influence.