The First Trade… Hang in there, it’s Friday!

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

CHARTROOM LINK
(pre-open Market Tour begins at 8:55 ET)

Through the prior close…
Wednesday night’s recovery attempt up to 2104.00 had been retraced to greet Thursday’s open unchanged around 2096.00. The reversal extended through the open and through the afternoon to attack 2082.00. The last 60-90 minutes ranged choppily sideways ahead of post-close earnings from GOOG and MSFT. Sellers gained no traction for their efforts.

Overnight action’s new info…
Plunging in reaction to earnings extended down to test 2078.00. Its reaction up extended higher relentlessly, probing the late-afternoon 2087.50 resistance up to 2089.00. Europe’s opens began a reversal that extended to 2079.00, which — like the post-close plunge — has been retraced back up to 2087.50.

If, then…

The chart reminds me of the iconic cat poster “Hang in there, weekend’s coming!” The drop from Wednesday afternoon’s doomed high is dangling at support — and there’s a bit of a drop below. There’s also a way up. Having trended down into Thursday’s close, gapping up Friday above the afternoon’s 2090.25 high could form a “session-long rally” setup. And a retest of last year’s last relative highs at 2110.00 would not be difficult to reach. Testing 2090.25 at or just before the open would require either forming the setup, or else duplicating yesterday’s decline. And that would target 2076.00 if not also 2067.00.

First Trade…
Exiting the open at 9:45 Exiting the open under 2079.00 would be likely to trigger the 2081.75 bias-down signal at 10:15. Exiting the open above 2083.50 would be unlikely to trigger bias-down. Exiting the open above 2093.75 would be likely to trigger the 2091.00 bias-up signal.