Trading Update: Friday July 17, 2026
S&P E-mini market analysis
E-mini daily chart
- The market gapped down on the open, following yesterday’s bear reversal bar.
- Yesterday formed a doji closing just under its midpoint, with a big tail below the bar.
- This increased the risk that the gap down today was likely to find buyers.
- The bears are hoping that the market is forming a double top at the June 15th high, but realistically, whatever sell signal we get is likely to be bought on the open.
- The market is testing near the July 8th low, and that is likely an area where the market is going to find buyers.
- The daily chart is forming a triangle, and the market is near the midpoint of the triangle. This increases the risk that the market can continue to have a lot of sideways trading.
- The odds are that the market is going to test the June 15th high, which is the all-time high, as well as the 7700 round number.
- The bulls are hoping that today forms a buy signal bar, closing on its high, and that Monday gaps up, forming a buy signal bar.
- Next, they would want to rally above the June 15th high with strong enough momentum to carry the market above the all-time high.
- The bears want to prevent today from forming a buy signal bar closing on its high.
- Realistically, the bears tried to get a credible double top with June, July 10th, and July 15th, and it is forming a larger double top with the June 15th high.
- Because the sell signal bar on July 15th is a bull doji, which increases the risk that there are buyers below.
- Therefore, the market is likely going to test back to the July 15th low at a minimum because of the higher time frame context.
- The downside risk for the bulls is likely limited. This means that bulls will likely be willing to buy and scale in lower.
E-mini 5-minute chart and what to expect today
- The E-mini gapped down on the open, and it was a fairly large gap testing near the July 8th low, which was likely to be supported.
- The bears got a bear reversal bar closing on its low.
- However, because of the relatively large gap and the daily chart approaching support, the odds increased that bar 1 was likely to find buyers.
- The bears managed only weak follow-through after bar 2, and the bulls formed a micro double bottom with the bar 2 and bar 3 lows.
- Bar 4 formed a large bull breakout with strong follow-through on bar 5.
- This increased the odds that the market was going to try to form an opening reversal and rally back to the moving average.
- The rally up to bar 10 was strong.
- However, it was testing near the midpoint of the gap down, right at resistance, and the moving averages increased the risk that the market would probably pull back fairly soon.
- The bears got a sell-off down to the bar 19 low, and although the channel down was tight, it had a lot of overlapping bars.
- Because of the trapped bears who sold anywhere around the open, if they scaled in more at the moving average, they were likely more interested in getting out break-even than holding for their original entry.
- That increased the odds that there would be buyers around the bar 22 area and that the bulls would get a second leg up.
- As of bar 45, the bulls are trying to get a spike in the channel, and they are hoping that the second leg will continue for many bars.
- The bears are hopeful that the market is forming a trading range with the bar 10 high and the bar 41 high.
- Because the channel up is a little bit tight, as of bar 44 it is probably too early for the bears to be looking to sell. The bears will likely need more selling pressure after the recent bull bars.
Yesterday’s E-mini setups
Jed created the SP500 E-mini chart.
Here are reasonable stop entry setups from yesterday. Chart shows each buy entry bar with a green arrow and each sell entry bar with a red arrow. Buyers of the Brooks Trading Course have access to a near 4-year library of detailed explanations of swing trade setups (see Online Course/BTC Daily Setups) linked to the Brooks Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns product.
The goal with these charts is to present an Always In perspective. If a trader was trying to be Always In or nearly Always In a position all day, and he was not currently in the market, these entries would be logical times for him to enter. These therefore are swing entries.
It is important to understand that most swing setups do not lead to swing trades. As soon as traders are disappointed, many exit. Those who exit prefer to get out with a small profit (scalp), but often have to exit with a small loss.
If the risk is too big for your account, you should wait for trades with less risk or trade an alternative market like the Micro E-mini.
Summary of today’s S&P E-mini price action
Jed created the SP500 E-mini chart.
E-mini end of day video review
Periodic end of day review videos will be moved to top of page when done.
See the weekly update for a discussion of the price action on the weekly chart and for what to expect going into next week.
Trading Room
Al Brooks and other presenters talk about the detailed E-mini price action real-time each day in the Brooks Trading Course trading room. We offer a 2 day free trial.
Charts use Pacific Time
When times are mentioned, it is USA Pacific Time. The E-mini day session charts begin at 6:30 am PT and end at 1:15 pm PT which is 15 minutes after the NYSE closes. You can read background information on the market reports on the Market Update page.
