Best MES Micros Setups & Key Levels

Monday December 15, 2025

Traders face a potentially turbulent week as market conditions are expected to reach peak volatility due to contract rollovers, delayed economic data releases, and year-end expiration events. With institutional traders largely sidelined, smaller and more reactive participants are anticipated to dominate price action, creating exaggerated swings. Micros Trader’s strategy centers on validating core setups using the “Trade Plan Builder,” aligning with a disciplined approach rooted in scriptural guidance. The current technical landscape remains bullish, with all major indices and metrics signaling buyer control ahead of Friday’s options expiration.

📖 AM Briefing Overview & Key Points - December 15, 2024

Happy Monday, traders! This week brings a Level 10 trading environment with contract rollover, delayed non-farm payroll, and option expiration. Our scripture theme—"test all things, hold on to what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21)—relates directly to the Trade Plan Builder's core setups feature. Bulls remain in control at the bottom of a monster two-week chop range, making every battle plan trade last night a long setup.

Trade Plan Builder - Core Setups (Section 10): This new feature lets you document and organize your proven setups with custom names, detailed descriptions, and unlimited screenshot galleries. Test all things, keep what is good—that's exactly what this tool helps you do. Add as many setups as you want, collapse them for clean organization, and remove what doesn't work. Check out the in-depth video on Section 9 from this weekend.
Week's News Drivers - Lions, Tigers, Bears, Oh My: Today could be green OR yellow. Tomorrow is delayed non-farm payroll (14 days delayed) an hour before the open—monster news that makes tomorrow a Level 10 day. Contract rollover Monday/Tuesday, plus option expiration Friday. Put it all together: Level 10 week with big institutions closing books early, leaving emotional smaller traders to create exaggerated swings. Hold those runners!
Battle Plan Analysis - Preferred Trade Setup: Last night's Battle Plan Trade #2 (shown in green) was my preferred setup: taking out the 6814.25 low with a snappy ladder back reaction. Price needed to go deeper for my ideal entry, but instead gave us that incremental disgusting grind north all night. Battle Plan #1 offered experienced traders a chance to add to winning positions.
Contract Rollover Alert: Monday is the last day for the Z contract. Tonight's battle plan switches to H contract levels. I'll shoot a video tonight about updating your levels to the new contract. If you have the free seven-day trial, make sure your private messages are open to get access to the strong levels. Sometimes you need to remove and re-add the strong indicator if levels aren't showing.
Bull Bear Scorecard - We're Bringing It Back: Who's in control going into today's session? Bulls across the board. Overnight trend line: bulls. Session stacking (New York, Asia, London): bulls. VWAP pointing up: bulls. Above overnight halfback: bulls. Above yesterday's halfback on two indices: bulls. The only bear indicator is the bull bear line at 6085. Bulls know where the bears are—and we're at the bottom of the range after yesterday's selloff.
Market Positioning - Bottom of Two-Week Chop Range: We've got upward slanting VWAPs, laddering action, NQ against the halfback, and all indices looking anything but bearish. Monster two-week chop range continues back and forth, but until proven otherwise, bulls control and we're at the bottom. My favorite place to be for the move north. Risk of short covering outweighs liquidation break risk right now.
Live Trading Tomorrow: We're live streaming tomorrow on YouTube 15 minutes before the market opens—the best way to see if we can do it live. The answer is yes. Tonight the battle plan is completely unlocked for you to review last night's setup and today's action. This is your best opportunity to check us out and see how the battle plan works in real-time trading conditions.
Trading Wisdom - Exaggerated Swings Expected: With big institutions gone for the year, smaller emotional traders will drive the market this week. Expect exaggerated swings—which means hold that runner because you could get really paid well. Monday and Tuesday are Level 10 conditions when you factor in contract rollover alone, let alone everything else this week throws at us.
Feedback Request: There's a link in the description for AM briefing feedback—tell me what you like, what you don't, what you want added. I'm already making changes you'll see today. My goal is keeping these briefings between 7-10 minutes, and today hit 8 minutes. Perfect.
Get Tomorrow's Trades Tonight: Visit microstrader.com and click battle to access your battle plan.

☀️ AM BRIEFING

Opening Remarks

Micros Trader opened the AM Briefing by emphasizing the overarching principle guiding this week's trade plan: “test all things. Hold on to what is good.” This framework is particularly relevant given the anticipated market volatility and structural shifts driven by both calendar-based events and participant dynamics.

This week marks a convergence of impactful market catalysts — contract rollover, delayed Non-Farm Payroll data, CPI release, and Friday’s option expiration. With large institutions largely sidelined for the year, the market is likely to be driven by smaller, more emotional traders. As a result, “exaggerated swings” are expected, creating opportunities but also requiring disciplined tactical execution.

Trade Plan Builder: Core Philosophy

Micros Trader highlighted the utility of the "Trade Plan Builder," particularly Section 10, which is dedicated to core setups. This tool supports the theme of validation and retention by helping traders build a permanent repository of strategies that have been tested and proven effective.

Add an unlimited number of custom-named setups.
Document detailed descriptions and upload multiple screenshots for visual reinforcement.
Easily manage the list by adding/removing setups and toggling between condensed and expanded views.

This ensures that every trader builds a well-defined edge by capturing what works — a direct application of the scriptural principle anchoring the session.

Hold that runner, because you could get really paid well.

Weekly Market Environment Analysis

Micros Trader described this week as "Level 10 trading conditions" — a phrase signaling maximum volatility and opportunity. Several macro and structural drivers are stacking up:

Contract Rollover: Monday marks the transition from Z to H contracts. This shift, referred to as a "big one," demands traders update their charts and levels accordingly for the Monday night session.
Delayed Non-Farm Payroll: Scheduled for Tuesday morning, this "monster news" is expected to move markets sharply. Due to a 14-day delay, the data’s impact may be outsized.
CPI & Option Expiration: The combination of CPI data and Friday's OPEX adds fuel to the already volatile setup. Thursday will likely see positioning ahead of Friday’s expiration.

Micros Trader warned that with institutional players out of the market, smaller, emotional traders will dominate, amplifying volatility.

Tactical Review: Battle Plan for Dec 14th

The tactical approach for the previous night was entirely long-biased. This was based on the prevailing structure: the market remains inside a "monster two-week chop range," and bulls appear to control the narrative at the bottom of that range.

Micros Trader's preferred setup — Trade #2 — was designed to capitalize on a potential flush to the "68, 14, 25 low" followed by a "snappy ladder back reaction." This setup was tagged as a candidate for "low of the night."

However, the anticipated price flush didn’t materialize. Instead, price action delivered an “incremental, disgusting grind to the north.” Even without triggering the ideal entry, the overall long-biased directional call was validated.

Current Market Posture & Bull/Bear Scorecard

Micros Trader reintroduced the Bull/Bear Scorecard — a systematic method to assess market control across multiple technical dimensions. As of the morning of December 15th, bulls held near-total control.

Overnight Trend Line: Bullish
Session Stacking (New York, Asia, London): Bullish
VWAP Behavior: Bullish; prices above upward-sloping VWAPs
Overnight Halfback: Bullish; price trading above it
Comparison to Previous Day: Bullish; indices remain within yesterday’s range and above its halfback
Bull/Bear Line: Bearish — the one dissenting metric

Micros Trader concluded that a liquidation break or short-covering rally is not the immediate threat. With a prior-day close near session lows and current price pushing higher, the environment favors continued upside.

"Test all things. Hold on to what is good."

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