Trading Update: Thursday March 12, 2026
E-mini end of day video review
S&P E-mini market analysis
E-mini daily chart
- E-mini formed a weak entry bar yesterday, following Tuesday’s Low 1 short.
- Today is gapping down on the open, and the Bears are hopeful that today will form a strong entry bar, closing on its low.
- The March 9th outside up bar is a strong enough bull reversal bar that the odds favor a second leg up. This means that there are likely buyers below the midpoint of the bar, and those bulls will likely be willing to scale in lower.
- Because of the reasons mentioned above, the context is getting bad for the bears. With the past two trading days forming weak bear doji bars, the odds are that the downside is limited.
- Bulls buying below bars and scaling in lower will most likely make money. This increases the risk that the market will test back up to yesterday’s low sometime today.
- While the bears are continuing to try to drive the market lower because of all the buying pressure, the odds favor buyers scaling in lower and the bulls getting a reversal up, lasting a couple of legs.
- The bulls are hopeful that the reversal is strong enough to test back up to the All-time high in the 7,000-round number.
- Overall, the downside is likely limited, and the bulls are likely to get a couple of legs up over the next several days
E-mini 5-minute chart and what to expect today
- Today gapped down on the open and formed a broad bear channel down to bar 21.
- The bears tried to get a bear trend, but because of all the buying pressure, it increased the odds that the sell-off to bar 21 was a bear leg in what was going to form a trading range.
- The bulls see the reversal up on bar 26 as a strong enough outside up bar, increasing the odds of a second leg up and a test of the high of the day.
- Next, the bulls are hopeful that the market has enough energy to test back up to yesterday’s low for the reasons mentioned above (see daily chart comments).
- Because of all the trading range price action today, if the bulls do get a strong reversal up in a bull trend, it will likely be a trending trading range day and have a lot of sideways trading after breakouts.
- At the moment, the odds are the market will probably test back up to the high of the day and likely get back to yesterday’s low.
- The bears want to prevent this, but because of all the buying pressure and the market still having 50 bars left in the trading day, the market is probably going to have to probe higher.
Yesterday’s E-mini setups
Richard 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
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.
