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

DAILY SCHEDULE First, watch the pre-open Tour recording HERE <<== Then, meet in the chaRTroom here by 9:15 ET for updates and Q&A

Through the prior close... Wednesday's open was greeted by a 21-24 point overnight drop back down to 2815.00. It was reversed immediately, eventually testing 2827.25. The sluggish bounce had stalled, and may have been on the verge of resuming the overnight decline. But a China trade headline triggered a spike up from 2821.00 to 2840.00, rejecting both bias-down parameters, which was rewarded by testing both bias-up parameters up to 2857.50 by noon. The afternoon's no-bias environment tried resolving up, but surprisingly 2860.00 pushed back into the close. Overnight action's new info... The late intraday push back against buyers soon extended into Globex, which drifted down to within 2 ticks of the morning's spike up to 2840.00. Reacting up to 2853.00 was already reversing back down by midnight. A brief bobble into and out Europe's opens only attacked the prior low before rallying again. This time more substantially, much more substantially, back up to and through yesterday's highs to 2867.00. If, then... (notes to accompany the Tour recording) Has late-afternoon become inhibited by Asian opens, specifically China economic data? Exiting the afternoon bias environment had every opportunity to almost literally explode higher, but only retraced within the afternoon's narrow range. We discussed whether there will be a delayed effect Thursday morning, quickly exceeding 2862.00. The overnight rally suggests so, but that doesn't ensure extending higher this morning. Gapping up to fresh highs can acquire by proxy the traction that wasn't gained the prior afternoon, which requires maintaining the gap up. Retracing to test "lower prior highs" from yesterday afternoon wouldn't necessarily be a sign of strength, despite still being likely to produce at least a bounce. Extending higher would next target the gap back up to Friday's 2884.00 close. Sellers would still be free to retake control in late-afternoon, if not already reversing down sharply through the open. First Trade... [Click here to view the Bias parameters] Exiting the open at 9:45 above 2865.00 would be likely also to exceed the 2863.00 bias-up target at 10:15 to renew the bias-up signal. Exiting the open above 2859.00 would be likely at least to trigger the 2857.50 bias-up signal at 10:15.

"Almost" literally exploding higher. I described during the Market Tour why I would be willing to enter long early -- mostly because gapping up above yesterday's highs was confirming the afternoon's explosion higher was only delayed. But sideways ranging into the open didn't offer any attractive nearby parameters. Fortunately, post-open price action quickly offered at least an aggressive setup, more so than just being early-entry. Yesterday's 2860.00 "lower prior high" could be touched only barely and briefly to maintain optimism. The open pierced it by 3 ticks and then never looked back on the way to retracing at least 61.8{faed0d6dca04cec8b6b7985efddb9b0651107a3aebb05f69f0166038b8c951f6} back up to the pre-open highs. Resistance at the 2870.50 renewed bias-up target met a little hesitation. So did resistance at the 2877.00 doubly-renewed bias-up target. None of which stopped the rally, as 3-minute RSI was persistently overbought throughout.

And still is persistently overbought, as gaps back up to Friday and last Wednesday's closes are filled completely. The close is a session's most important print, representing the singularly agreeable valuation by strong hands. The 2880.50-2887.00 area represents two such agreements within 2 days of each other. Its resistance is meaningful.

1-minute RSI just diverged negatively for the first time today. Price is still flat-to-higher attacking 2888.00. Meanwhile, such substantial early trending is nearly impossible to reverse quickly. Any immediate dip is probably a headline reaction, and a compelling buy several minutes later upon recovering the nearest tested support. Flat-to-higher ranging may be the most bearish scenario into the afternoon. Vulnerability to reversing today's trend back down is likely delayed until late-afternoon... if at all.

THU afternoon signal (triggered at 1:20 ET) SPX ES Bias-up: above 2892.75 2894.00 ...would target 2900.25 2901.50 Bias-down: under 2881.50 2883.00 ...would target 2875.25 2876.75 Signal status: NO-BIAS, TESTED BIAS-UP SIGNAL . BIAS VIDEOS... INTRO // EXAMPLE 1. At 1:20, 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 1:20 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 1:20 would invoke a grace period through 1:30 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 1:30 after invoking the grace period would trigger "noN-bias," with no bias influence.

What goes up, eventually stops. This morning's rally from its 2860.00 open was very, very, very productive. The 2884.00 objective interfered only mildly as the noon hour fully tested 2892.00-2894.00 resistance. That was Friday's peak, before Sunday night's gap down on China trade news.

With one exception there's no bearish reason to revisit 2892.00-2894.00. Closing higher would next target 2917.00-2919.00, and above 2924.00 would target 2938.50.

The one bearish exception requires rejecting this morning's rally. Not necessarily retracing its 2860.00 open, but at least 2867.25-2872.25.

Meanwhile, the gap up already has served by proxy to form an actively bullish WedEX, despite no signal being triggered at yesterday's close. Where that bullish influence begins -- either Friday afternoon or Monday morning -- remains to be seen. If it's from lower levels, then it may only retest resistance. But if WedEX's influence is greeted from at least current levels, then the higher targets would be likely.

Wednesday afternoon's bias environment had been exited into a bullish setup, almost literally to explode higher above 2860.00. Surprising, it did not, but sellers didn't take control so that left potential for a delayed reaction. And despite dipping overnight to 2840.50, an overnight rally probed fresh highs up to 2868.00. Thursday's open was greeted by a pullback to 2860.00, which almost literally exploded higher to 2894.00 after noon.

And then it finally stopped. Or, at least temporarily.

2892.00-2894.00 has been critical resistance repeatedly during the past several weeks. There is less and less bearish reason to visit it for refueling. At some point its resistance has been chipped away to allow trending up through it.

But that wasn't Thursday, as its resistance pushed back throughout the afternoon.

Extending down to 2872.75 came within 2 ticks of the 2867.25-2872.25 range. Closing any lower would have rejected the session's upleg. Probing under it now would likely recover, unless Friday's opening window were exited under Thursday's 2860.00 open. Having trended down into Thursday's close, gapping up above its 2890.00 bias environment high would form a session-long rally. And extending through Friday's highs would next target 2917.00-2919.00, and above 2924.00 would target 2938.50. Regardless of the next leg's direction, we'll be monitoring for whether a bullish WedEX is influencing the afternoon. Details and other markets coverage are discussed in the post-market Wrap recording here. Monitor overnight Globex trading in the chaRTroom here.

FRI morning signal (triggered at 10:15 ET) SPX ES Bias-up: above 2883.00 2884.25 ...would target 2890.00 2891.25 Bias-down: under 2817.50 2873.00 ...would target 2863.00 2864.50 Signal status: BIAS-DOWN, BIAS-DOWN TARGET EXCEEDED . BIAS VIDEOS... INTRO // EXAMPLE 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.