Trading Update: Thursday April 23, 2026
E-mini end of day video review
S&P E-mini market analysis
E-mini daily chart
- E-mini continues to form a tight trading range on the daily chart following the strong rally over the past two weeks that broke above the all-time high.
- The risk is big for the bulls, and this sideways trading is due to partial profit-taking as bulls look to buy a pullback and bears start selling, hoping for a test back to the prior all-time high.
- Because the rally was strong, the downside is likely limited. This means there will be bulls willing to buy and scale in lower, expecting that, worst case, the market will enter a trading range for the next several weeks.
- While the bears are hoping for a strong reversal down and test the moving average on the daily chart, the reality is the market will probably have to go sideways for more bars before the market can reach the moving average.
- Overall, the upside is likely limited for the next several weeks, and a trading range is likely to continue to develop lasting several weeks.
E-mini 5-minute chart and what to expect today
- Gap down on the open and rally for the first four bars of the day. The rally up to bar four was strong enough that the market was likely to find buyers on any pullback. This led to bulls buying below the bar one low, and the bulls getting a large second leg up to the bar 24 high.
- The rally up to Bar 24 ended up forming a parabolic wedge inside of an overall trading range on a higher time frame. This increased the odds of the Bulls getting a deep pullback and the Bears selling off to the bottom third of the recent rally from the low of bar 7 to the high of bar 25.
- The sell-off down to 32 is strong enough that the odds favor a second leg down. However, because of all the trading range price action and the rally up to bar 25 being fairly tight, the Bears may get a deep pullback before they get a second leg down.
- Overall, traders should expect today to continue to have a lot of trading range price action. Bears are hopeful that the market will get a second leg down below 32 and test yesterday’s low, creating an outside down bar on the daily chart.
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.
