Trading Update: Monday January 12, 2026
S&P E-mini market analysis
E-mini daily chart
- The E-mini rallied last Friday, breaking above the October 29th prior all-time high. This was an obvious target for the bulls, and the odds favored the market reaching the magnet before it could find sellers.
- There’s likely going to be profit-taking around this price level. The bulls need a strong bull breakout with follow-through above the all-time high. Currently, the odds are the bulls will not get the strong follow-through, and instead, the market will go sideways as bulls begin to sell at a loss and bears start to sell to go short.
- The bears need to continue to create selling pressure that would increase the odds that the market will test back down to the midpoint of the trading range that has lasted over the past 3 months.
- Overall, because of the increased selling pressure in the trading range and the market being at important resistance, the odds are that the market’s likely to start going sideways or down fairly soon.
E-mini 5-minute chart and what to expect today
- E-mini gapped down and formed a bull trend from the open for the first 6 bars. The rally up to bar 6 was strong enough that the odds favored a second leg up, which the bulls got from the 14 low all the way up to the 30 high.
- The bears have not made money on a stop entry for the first 30 bars of the day, and that’s a sign of strong buying pressure by the bulls.
- The bulls want the small pullback bull trend to last for the rest of the day and reach last Friday’s high.
- The bears need to continue to increase the selling pressure. That would increase the odds that the market will begin to go sideways.
- Overall, until the bears can develop more selling pressure and ideally start making money below bars, the odds are that today will continue to drift sideways to up.
Friday’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.
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.
