Stock Market Futures Firm; Traders Wait For Next Move

The S&P 500 futures chart bounced off a bit of a deeper pullback than anticipated but now is holding the 1861 level easily as primary support. Stock market futures remain firm across the board.

Traders can look for higher lows to continue IF we can breach and hold 1887 on S&P 500 futures, but failure to hold will bring confident sellers to the market and we may test the 1838 level again. Longer time frame resistance levels are sitting now at 1894.5, 1906.75, and 1915.  The battle needs to be won by buyers at 1886 for charts to continue, but sellers are poised to take control.

Intraday resistance for the S&P 500 futures sits near 1894.5. Intraday support sits at 1850 -(congestion sits at 1865 and 1868.5– watch these midlines – they will gives clues to moves ahead). Deeper pullbacks will be continue to be bought, and expansions upward will be sold – stock market futures sit in jagged ranges.

Shorter time frame momentum indicators are drifting. Longer cycles are downward trending but lifting –still firmly in negative territory- this means larger upside resistance tests should be sold.

See today’s economic calendar with a rundown of releases.

THE RANGE OF TUESDAY’S MOTION

Crude Oil Futures (CL_F)

Crude Oil futures broke support of 29.36 overnight but quickly recovered and is now back in congestion zones. Seems clear that buyers are exerting a lot of pressure on the upward path to hold 30. The relief bounce from last week quickly faded as fundamentals weigh on this chart.

Trading ranges are between 29.48 and 30.98, with 29.86 being an important support level to hold on any retrace.

Moving averages in oil are still clearly negative on longer time frames but holding bounces from that last large drift downward. These should continue IF the chart can breach and hold 32.8 – that’s a big ‘IF’ for now – so far, failing.

Intraday long trade setup suggests a long off 30.23 or 29.89 (with momentum showing positive, else that brings a lower high) into 30.6, 30.85, 31.03, 31.35, 31.85, 32.12, 32.35, 32.6, 32.7 and 33.2 but charts get very muddy in those regions above– see the blog for levels above that region.

Intraday short trade setup suggests a short below a 30.9 failed retest or a failed retest of 30.6 with negative divergence showing sends us to 30.46, 30.29, 30, 29.89, 29.65, 29.48, 29.36, and 28.77 if we lose traction again. Momentum on longer time frames remains sloping negative but somewhat divergent as we move north.

E-mini S&P 500 Futures  (ES_F)  

Below is a S&P 500 futures chart with price support and resistance trading levels for today. Click to enlarge.

The S&P 500 futures chart is holding steady near resistance levels – currently testing 1882. Primary support sits at 1887, and we’ve broken that so we are vulnerable to selling action taking control.

Upside motion has the best setup on the breach of and positive retest of 1887.5 – or a bounce off 1860.5 but if we come back there, watch for a potential lower high setting in intraday. S&P 500 futures targets from 1860.5 are 1865, 1868.5, 1871.5, 1883, 1886.5, 1889.25, 1892, 1894.5, 1899, and 1902.25. Big resistance test exists now at the region between 1890 – 1894.75. The chart could expand under positive strength into 1914, so be careful to watch the higher lows to keep you on the right side of the trade.

Downside motion opens below the failed retest of 1882.5 or at the failure to hold 1892 bounce – but that would likely be into higher support on the pullback there. Retracement into lower levels from 1882.5 gives us the targets at 1878.5, 1874.5, 1870.5, 1868.5, 1861.25, 1857.75, and perhaps 1851.75 again.

If you’re interested in the live trading room, it is now primarily stock market 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 the 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:  @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.