The market started with a lot of sideways bars. We also had a small overnight gap to the upside.

When we got a HL with a great bull bar, I entered long, looking for price to try and fill the gap and betting on the bears getting trapped, thinking this could turn into a bear trend day for them. I took the first contract off at 10 pts. My initial plan was 15 pts, close to the Globex open, but price stalled and started printing dojies, so I locked in the first contract at 10.

I wanted to hold the second contract for 15 pts, but price printed even more dojies, so I ended up taking the second contract off at 8 pts.

Those dojies ended up forming what looked like a double top and the top of a range. When we then got a LH MTS at the top of the range, I took the short on a nice bear breakout bar. The entry was very close to the middle of the range, so I took the first contract off at 5 pts and moved the stop to BE on the second contract. I was worried we could get a bounce in the middle of the range — and that’s exactly what happened.

A strong bull bar formed, closing right at the top of the trading range. The market then reversed sharply back into the range and stalled again around the middle, printing a lot of dojies. Very congested price action overall. I decided to take my dinner break.

When I got back from the break, the bulls had broken out of the range, but momentum looked weak and price seemed to be stalling around the Globex high.
Price then dropped back into the range. When we got a LH inside the range, I took a chance on a short, betting that the weak bulls would give up and that the bears could finally push price back down toward the range low. It was a risky trade, since price was still making HLs. My target was a measured move of the first bear leg down, but I was debating whether to take the trade off earlier at the midline and a clear support level.

I ended up taking that trade off at BE. Shortly after, we got another LH, and it started to look more and more like a bull squeeze. I entered short again — this time with 2 contracts — expecting a second leg down and possibly a move toward the bigger range low.

Again, price stalled with multiple bars stacked, so I decided to take 3 pts on both contracts. It was getting late in the session, and there wasn’t much time left to fix the trade if it reversed back up. I was already up nicely on the day and wasn’t interested in giving anything back late in the session.

It was honestly incredible how many dojies the market printed in the last hours of the session. Completely untradeable. Really glad I exited with a small profit instead of forcing anything.