A trader texted me something this week that made me smile. He was watching the NQ during Wednesday’s session when price closed at 25,431 at 2:00 PM Eastern. The close above 25,412 opened the 25,500 level. Price dropped 150 points down to 25,350. Then it ripped straight back to 25,500. His text: “The Houdini show.

Back to the Lows — Heavy Tape Aheadby Tony Rago The tape is coming in heavy into the open — we’ve essentially round-tripped the entire week and are pressing back into last Friday’s low zone. The big question now: do buyers defend it again, or does this time break the pattern? With VIX pushing 22.82,

Shutdown Lifted — Now What?by Tony Rago With the shutdown officially over, the big question is whether buyers can turn that headline into real follow-through. Overnight markets couldn’t push to new highs and have since slipped back toward 25,500 on NQ and 6,850 on ES — two spots that have been key reference levels all

  Grind Back to the Highsby Tony Rago Overnight, ES tagged 6,900 as price continues to grind higher with shallow pullbacks that keep getting bought. The tape feels heavy with FOMO and bullish sentiment, and you can see it in how quickly buyers step in on every minor dip. Momentum’s strong, but it’s starting to

Veterans Day Momentum Checkby Tony Rago Thank you to all who have served — we appreciate you. 🇺🇸 After a strong rally off Friday’s lows, markets are opening the week stretched and due for some retracement or consolidation. The bigger picture remains bullish on the higher time frames, but after that kind of move, it’s

  Gap Up to Start the Weekby Tony Rago Markets gapped up off the open and caught a clean rally from the weekly open — momentum carried over from Friday’s sharp reversal after rumors of a government shutdown resolution hit the wires. That kind of headline-driven move often stretches price quickly, leaving traders to sort

Three trades. Three minus three losses. Three consecutive paper cuts that added up to one clear message. “This tape just doesn’t want me in it. It does not want me in it at all.” Monday morning felt wrong from the start. The market wasn’t moving with conviction. Price action looked choppy. The levels I normally

  Same Story — Sellers in Controlby Tony Rago Pops keep getting sold, and the tape’s now pointing toward a test of 6,700 on ES and 25,000 on NQ. Bulls still can’t get traction, and with no jobs data on deck this morning, we could see more of the same—grind lower, fade the rips, and

Bulls Defend, Bears on Watchby Tony Rago Nice fade into the close yesterday brought us halfway back — and bulls stepped up fast. Now it’s on them to hold the line on pullbacks and push toward the previous highs. Bears need to show conviction and drive price below 6,800 on ES and 25,500 on NQ

  Gaps Filled — Bulls Hold the Edgeby Tony Rago All gaps are now filled on both ES and NQ, and it’s all about 6,800 on ES and 25,500 on NQ from here. Bulls have the upper hand if they can defend pullbacks and keep price firm above those key levels. ES just completed a