The markets gapped down again as global markets got crushed. The initial push was up, although not as strong as the last gap down despite the fact that there was a LOT of volume. We topped out about an hour in and by lunch we were testing the lows with a horrible setup. After lunch, it looked like things were going to crack, but OPEC came out and said that they would work on reducing supply, and everything popped, filling the NQ gap and closing at highs (ES did not fill) on 2.5 billion shares. The Opening Ranges were wide, so we use the midpoints as the stops. We had an NQ trade that only worked to the first target. See those sections below.

Net ticks: -21.5 ticks.

As usual, let’s start by taking a look at the ES and NQ with our market directional lines, VWAP, and Comber on the 5-minute chart from today’s session:

ES and NQ Opening and Institutional Range Plays:

ES Opening Range Play triggered long at A, hit first target for 8 ticks, stopped second half:

NQ Opening Range Play triggered long at A and didn’t work:

ES Tradesight Institutional Range Play:

NQ Tradesight Institutional Range Play:

NQ:

Just a reminder that we use half points for ticks on the NQ and not the quarter point measurement that the exchanges switched to in recent years. This allows us to use 6 ticks as a key target as we do on the other contracts. It also keeps the value of a tick at $10, closer to the value of a tick on the other contracts.

Triggered long at A at 3956.50, hit first target for 6 ticks, stopped second half under the entry: