The day started off as a trading range. When I got to the chart, the market had just completed a strong second leg down to the range low. A 2EL was forming at the bottom, but the signal bar had almost no body, and with the previous bear bar being so strong, I wanted to see some bullish follow-through first. The next bar closed as a bullish doji, so I stayed out — the trade ended up working well without me.

After a strong leg up and a breakout to the upside, we got a 2EL / BOPB at the top of the range. The signal bar wasn’t great, but I took a chance with one MES contract. The trade stalled with several bars showing upper wicks, so I took it off at breakeven. Prices hovered around the range top for a while. When a double top formed, I started looking for a reversal back into the range. After three consecutive bear bars breaking back inside, I entered short, expecting a test of the range low for at least 1R. Again, the market stalled after a strong bullish pullback, and I took it off at breakeven.

After this, prices went back to hovering just above the range — basically a tight 5-point mini-range sitting on top of the main range. Not easy to trade at all.