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Slight gap higher just above the now four day balance area on overnight inventoryA way of measuring overnight activity in the futures market by just noting how much of the overnight activity happens to fall above the prior day's settlement value (4:15pm EST close) and how much falls below. If more activity is above the settlement, then overnight inventory is said to be net long. If more is below, then it is said to be net short. If all of the overnight activity is above the settlement, then it is said to be 100% net long. If all of the activity is below the settlement then it is said to be 100% net short. The overnight inventory situation matters most and has the most impact on early trade when it is skewed 100% in either direction because when the imbalance is very large like that then the odds of an early correction increase greatly. This is due to the fact that most... that is very balanced. That in and of itself doesn’t bode well for a breakout as for now traders are still showing indecision as to which side of 3382 they want to be on. If we open above, then we have a true gapThere is a lot of discussion as to what constitutes a gap. Is it measured to the prior day's close, or to the prior day's high or low. Here at ShadowTrader we believe that it is always and only to a prior day's high or low, thus creating a true gap or space on the chart between one day and the next. Thus a true gap is one that has price opening completely outside of the prior day's range (either above the high or below the low) and anything else is just a gap that has far less import. As a gap is a "reordering of thinking", only a true gap really changes the tone and creates opportunity to trade early rather than later. and gap rulesGuidelines to follow on any day that the futures open outside of the prior day's RTH range. Only opening outside of range is a true gap and puts gap rules in play. 1. Go with all gaps that don't fill right away. This means that if early trade doesn't start to correct the imbalance, then prices will probably move in the direction of the gap. 2. Larger gaps can often fail to fill on the first day or may fill only partially. 3. If the gap fills (meaning the prior day's RTH high is touched on a gap up or the prior day's RTH low is touched on a gap down) and value cannot get to at least overlapping, then the odds of a late day rally (on a gap up) or late day selloff (on a gap down) increase. 4. Gaps of larger than $20 in the /ES are difficult to trade and should be avoided early in the day as t... More are in play. As of now we are trading in the upper third of the overnight distribution. Nasdaq futures are showing a lot of relative strength being up about 3x what their S&P counterparts are.

Balance rulesWhen a market is in balance, meaning that it is consolidating in a tight range of two or more days, then balance rules apply. The balance rules are nothing more than a framework of scenarios that could happen which prepare us for every possible outcome.

The possible outcomes and how to trade them are:

1. Look above and go. Prices move above the high of balance and find acceptance and continue higher. The target should be double the balance area.
2. Look above and fail. Prices move above the balance high but fail to find acceptance and reverse back into the balance area. This is now a short with a stop above the high just outside of balance that was recently made, with a target to the opposing low end of the balance area.
3. Look below and go. Prices move below the ... are in play again and we will look at today very similarly to yesterday. The RTHRegular Trading Hours. In the /ES this means the price action from 9:30am EST to 4:15pm EST only. High is the main go or no go level. Prices above favor moving out of balance and higher towards the SPX cash all time high target at 3393.52. Prices below keep the balance in play and also bring in potential to rotate back down to low end of balance which would be the 8/12 RTHRegular Trading Hours. In the /ES this means the price action from 9:30am EST to 4:15pm EST only. Low at 3353.50.

Carry forward into your narrative the very prominent TPO(MP) Stands for “Time Price Opportunity”.  It is the smallest unit of measure displayed any market profile graphic, denoted by a single letter.  Each TPO represents a point of time where the market being charted trades at a specific price.  A single TPO is printed on the chart every time that a certain price is touched during any time period.  Typically, the periods are set to 30 minutes.  Therefore, every different letter that you see in the market profile distribution denotes a different 30 minute period. POCPoint of Control, also known as the "fairest price to do business". It is the price level in the /ES where the greatest amount of volume in the prior RTH session traded. ShadowTrader measures the POC using volume but the traditional way is to mark off the widest point of the day's distribution where the most TPO's printed going across from left to right, indicating that that was the price where the most time was spent. It's important to pay attention to both the volume POC and the TPO POC. from yesterday’s RTHRegular Trading Hours. In the /ES this means the price action from 9:30am EST to 4:15pm EST only. session. Prominent POC’s have greater odds of being revisited than less prominent ones. At the 3379.00 level only one thirty minute TPO(MP) Stands for “Time Price Opportunity”.  It is the smallest unit of measure displayed any market profile graphic, denoted by a single letter.  Each TPO represents a point of time where the market being charted trades at a specific price.  A single TPO is printed on the chart every time that a certain price is touched during any time period.  Typically, the periods are set to 30 minutes.  Therefore, every different letter that you see in the market profile distribution denotes a different 30 minute period. period failed to trade there. POC’s are good places to end trades (targets) rather than start them. Prices are naturally drawn to areas of higher volume (think: value) and rejected by areas of lower volume (think: lack of value).

ShadowTrader Cumulative Tick

Beef up your "quad" and by putting your tickThe net cumulative tick reading on the NYSE or Nasdaq Composite. This is measured by the number of stocks ticking up minus the number of stocks ticking down at any given moment. It is the least used of the internal indicators but is discussed from time to time. Generally the tick readings are only helpful when they are at extremes such as +1000 on the NYSE to indicate that program trading is ensuing. indicator on steroids!

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