Trading Update: Monday March 23, 2026
E-mini end of day video review
S&P E-mini market analysis
E-mini daily chart
- The E-mini formed a bear breakout last Friday, breaking below the 6,660 round number. While this was good for the bears, the context was not ideal due to the consecutive sell climaxes at support on the daily chart.
- This increased the odds of a reversal up and test back to the November 2025 lows, which the bulls achieved right before the open of the US session.
- The bulls are hopeful that today’s gap up is strong enough to increase the odds of a 2nd leg up.
- Even if the bears form a Low 1 short today, there will probably be buyers below. The odds are that today will be disappointing for both the bulls and the bears. This means that today is unlikely to form a bear bar closing on its low.
- There are trapped bears who sold last Friday, and they will likely use any test back down to buy back shorts at a lower price. This will increase the odds of the market finding buyers over the next few days and the bulls getting a 2nd leg up.
E-mini 5-minute chart and what to expect today
- Today formed a bull trend from the open, and the market rallied for the first 20 bars.
- The rally had a lot of overlapping bars with bull gaps getting closed. This increased the odds that the rally was likely to form a bull leg in what would form a trading range.
- The bears managed to get a parabolic wedge top and a strong downside breakout.
- Bars 24-26 were strong enough to keep the market always in short, and for traders to expect a 2nd leg down. This increased the odds of a test of the open of the day and the bar 2 low.
- As of bar 36, the bears have formed consecutive sell climaxes. This increases the odds of a minor reversal and sideways trading for a few bars. The bulls are hopeful that because of all of the trading range price action, they will be able to get a strong reversal up and a test back to the open of the day.
- Overall, today is probably going to have a lot of trading range price action going into the close. This means that a bear trend lasting the rest of the day is unlikely to continue.
Yesterday’s E-mini setups
Richard created the SP500 E-mini chart.
Here are reasonable stop entry setups from Friday. 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
Richard created the SP500 E-mini chart.
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.
