When I got to the chart, we had a bear move down and a small trading range forming a double bottom. Then we suddenly got a huge bullish reversal bar. I was betting that we’d at least get a second leg up. I hesitated a bit since the bar closed right at the EMA, but I took the chance. This could easily turn into a trading range day, or even a bull trend day.

My initial targets were +7 pts on the first contract and +15 pts on the second. But prices stalled, and there were signs we might pull back. We then got a strong bear bar, so I decided to take off the second contract at +5 pts. That turned out to be the right call, because the market pulled back sharply and even closed below the EMA. I was ready to re-enter if the bulls showed up again for a second leg after the pullback.

Prices moved all the way back to the range low but wouldn’t have taken out my stop — still, that was a serious pullback, and I’m glad I took profit before it hit. At the bottom of the range we got another strong bull reversal bar. It was followed by a bear bar, then another strong bull bar. It closed right at the EMA, and I took the trade, expecting a retest of the range high.

But prices struggled to stay above the EMA and pulled back. What I didn’t see in real time was that I was actually entering on a visual 2ES, and we had multiple bear closes below the EMA. Once I caught that, I moved my stop to breakeven and eventually got taken out. And naturally, right after I was out, prices shot up from the EMA. I was just one cycle too early.

Prices then spent a long time at the top of the range. The bulls failed repeatedly to break out, forming a solid double top. When we finally got a bear breakout lower, I entered short. The entry was a bit early — the breakout bar had a wick — but the idea was solid. The top of the range had plenty of trapped bulls, and most breakouts from ranges fail anyway.

The trade took a long time, but the premise was solid. Bulls couldn’t push through, and even that small breakout above the range high was likely to fail. Classic range behavior with trapped buyers at the highs.

The market then bounced hard at the bottom of the range and reversed halfway back up, stalling again. Price action turned super indecisive in the middle of the range — no direction, no momentum.

Into the close, the market formed a triangle and was just annoying to watch. Pure range chop to end the day.