Yesterday was an aggressive day of range-bound trading that left traders battling at lines of major congestion between 1902 – 1907 on S&P 500 futures.
With moving averages flat and momentum neutral, the charts should continue to swing from buyers stepping in near 1896-1900 and sellers stopping the advance near the 1914 -1917 levels. Sellers are firmly at 1922 for now.
The Morning Report: Battle Lines Drawn
The price region between 1917-1923 is the resistance area on S&P 500 futures at the time of this writing – with a likely stretch to 1928 that could still give way to selling as we see negative divergence. Longer time frame resistance levels are still sitting at 1928, 1934, 1939.5 and 1942 -1948 (that still is a messy congestion patch).
Intraday resistance sits near 1914.5 with a swath of motion into 1917 also a possibility in the neutral and unresolved slant trading has at this time. S&P 500 futures intraday support sits at 1900 -(congestion sits between 1902-1907– watch this region – they will gives clues to moves ahead). The big form remains the same; hence, deeper pullbacks should continue to be bought-expecting to see higher lows, and expansions upward may likely be sold at higher highs– we sit in jagged ranges, while still looking for higher lows to continue on stock market futures.
Shorter time frame momentum indicators are sitting in neutral to positive territory. For now, this means that the buyers and sellers are battling for the upper hand near resistance levels. Longer cycles are downward trending but lifting – this means upside resistance tests should be sold at first pass, but deeper pullbacks will bring value buyers back.
See today’s economic calendar with a rundown of releases.
THE RANGE OF TUESDAY’S MOTION
Crude Oil Futures (CL_F)
Crude oil futures trading remains jagged and range bound, but support action is still building below.
Today, the trading ranges for crude oil futures are between 31.35 and 32.4, with 31.6- 31.89 being an important congestion zone. Failure to breach the 32.4 region suggests that momentum brings us near the test of 31.37 again and perhaps another dip lower if buyers fail to come in at key support levels.
Moving averages in oil are mixed but still lifting from a bigger picture across time frames – bigger averages suggest selling bounces while faster averages suggest buying off support. This gives rise to our current and prolonged jagged price action.
Intraday long trading setups on crude oil futures suggest a long off 32.28 retest or 31.4 (with momentum showing positive, else that brings a lower high) into 331.85, 32.05, 32.35, 32.78, 33.2, 33.7 and perhaps 34.8 if range expands
Intraday short trading setups on crude oil futures suggest a short below a 31.3 failed retest or a failed retest of 31.8 with negative divergence showing sends us to 30.7, 30.55, 30.35, 30.16, and perhaps 30.04.  Aggressive selling could arise at any time below 29.96, so be careful trying to catch bottoms.
E-mini S&P 500 Futures  (ES_F) Â
Below is a S&P 500 futures chart with price support and resistance trading levels for today. Click to enlarge.
The chart of the S&P 500 futures is holding steady near support levels. A region of important support to maintain remains near 1904-1910.
Upside motion has the best setup on the breach of and positive retest of 1914.5 – or a retest after expansion above 1917.5. Targets from 1917.5 are 1921.5, 1925, 1928.5, 1932.25, 1934.25, 1939.75, and 1942.5. Big resistance test sits at the region between 1927.75 -1929.5.
The S&P 500 futures chart could expand under positive strength into 1947.75-1949 and higher if momentum lifts. Be careful- watch the higher lows to keep you on the right side of the trade. Markets remain very neutral so bounces should be sold and pullbacks should be bought intraday.
Downside motion opens below the failed retest of 1904 or at the failure to hold 1917 bounce. Retracement into lower levels from 1917 gives us S&P 500 futures targets at 1914.5, 1911.5, 1907.75, 1904.75, 1902.25, 1899, 1896.5, 1892.25, and perhaps 1887.25.
If you’re interested in the live trading room, it is now primarily futures content, though we do track heavily traded stocks and their likely daily trajectories as well – we begin at 9am with a morning report and likely chart movements along with trade setups for the day.
As long as traders remain aware of support and resistance levels, risk can be very adequately managed to play in either direction as bottom picking remains a behavior pattern that is developing with value buyers and speculative traders.
Twitter:Â Â @AnneMarieTrades
The author trades stock market futures every day and may have a position in mentioned securities at the time of publication. Any opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author, and do not in any way represent the views or opinions of any other person or entity.
