The First Trade… Down the up staircase.

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…
Rallying overnight through the 1952.00-1953.00 objective attacked 1969.00. It was all retraced into and out of Friday’s open to pierce back under Thursday’s 1949.50 high. The balance of the session gyrated down to 1943.00. No traction was gained. But 1952.00-1953.00 was rejected.

Overnight action’s new info…
Sunday night’s opening dip to 1938.00 was soon recovered up to 1947.00. And that was the last of that. Returning to the open’s low finally broke lower on the way to testing 1928.00. Ranging choppily up to 1934.50 for several hours ended abruptly by spiking up 11 points to test the resistance of this morning’s 1940.25 bias-down signal on China’s news. Its reaction down to 1931.50 was recovered entirely, and consolidating there has broken higher to  1943.50.

If, then…
Not gaining traction Friday despite trending down from open to close had made extending down today unlikely without delay — not without gapping down significantly. Significantly, as in under 1937.00 or 1930.00.Having tested 1930.00 overnight, just opening positive above 1946.00 would allow not only probing back into Friday’s range at 1952.00-1953.00, but would also allow retesting Friday’s pre-open attack on 1969.00. Now having tested 1930.00 overnight, opening under 1937.00 could marginalize buyers for the day.

First Trade…
Exiting the open at 9:45 above 1946.00 would be unlikely to trigger the 1940.25 bias-down signal at 10:15. Exiting the open under 1939.00 would be likely to trigger the 1940.25 bias-down signal.