ES Pre-Tariff Deal ‘Headline Hell’

#ES Pre-Tariff Deal ‘Headline Hell’ 

The ES traded in a 21.5 handle trading range on Globex from 3296.75 (new all-time contract high) down to 3275.25 and opened Tuesday’s regular session at 3286.50. After the open, the ES made a series of lower highs and higher lows down to an early low of 3279.00 at 9:00 am CT. After the low, the ES rallied back up to 3286.75, pulled back down to the prior pullback low at 3281.25 then rallied up to 3287.75 at 10:45. After a small pullback down to the vwap the ES rallied up to 3295.00, up 6 handles on the day and up 20 handles off the Globex low. I was short at 3293.75 and thinking of getting out as these two headlines hit the tape:

*CHINA TARIFFS TO STAY UNTIL AFTER U.S. ELECTION DESPITE DEAL

 ROCKETS LANDED NEAR ONE OF THE GATES OF CAMP TAJI NORTH OF BAGHDAD, INJURING A MEMBER OF THE SECURITY FORCES

Initially, the ES didn’t move but after the second headline,  the ES got hit by several sell programs pushing the futures down to 3282.50. I covered at 3286.50 and 3287.50 which was correct as the ES traded back up to 3292.75. The next move was back down to a higher low at 3283.50 and that is where I made a fatal mistake, I got long. The ES rallied back up to 3288.25 and got ‘slammed’ down to 3277.25. I went from up $600 to down $1,200 and lost another $550 trying to get long again. I eventually caught a long at 3281.25 and the ES rallied 12.50 handles up to 3289.75. I made all my money back and ended up $400.00 on the day.

After the 3289.75 high the ES sold back off down to 3284.50. At 2:00 the ES traded 3286.00 as the early MiM showed $1 billion to sell and went out to $1.9 billion for sale. The ES traded 3281.00 at 2:30, traded 3284.50 as the final 2:45 cash imbalance showed $1.78 billion to sell. The ES traded 3283.25 on the 3:00 cash close and settled at 3287.50 on the 3:15 futures close, down 1.5 handles or -0.05% on the day.

In terms of the ES’s overall tone, all I can say is the ES acted skittishly. In terms of the day’s overall trade, 1.65 million ES traded with 309,000 of that coming from Globex making the total day session volume 1,431 million futures traded.