Tuesday Dec 2: Daily Trade Plan and Price Action Zones for S&P Futures
ES Emini Chart: Key Levels and Setups
Tuesday December 2, 2025
In the latest AM Briefing, Micros Trader underscores the value of trading with discipline by adhering to a clearly defined trade plan and focusing on statistical edges within the volume profile. The methodology discourages impulsive trades around the Point of Control and instead emphasizes high-probability setups at the value area extremes. Emphasis is placed on treating all accounts with equal seriousness and maintaining psychological discipline against common emotional pitfalls like FOMO and greed. The session concludes with guiding principles around patience, reinforcing that opportunity favors the disciplined trader who can wait for setups that align with their plan.
Opening Remarks
In today’s AM Briefing, Micros Trader emphasizes the critical importance of building a disciplined methodology around a structured trade plan, specifically focused on executing trades only at statistical edges of the market. The underlying idea is simple but powerful: avoid the low-probability chop in the middle and wait for clean setups at the extremes, defined by volume profile analysis. Patience, discipline, and a "risk-first" mindset are presented as non-negotiable pillars, whether trading a personal cash account or working through an evaluation.
Building the Foundation: The Trade Plan
Micros Trader begins by reinforcing that a formal trade plan is essential—not optional. A key element in that plan is vendor selection, which is discussed in detail using Section Two of the Trade Plan Builder template.
Vendor Selection
Choosing the right brokerage and evaluation firm is presented as a foundational business decision. Traders are urged to treat it with the same seriousness as a CEO selecting core infrastructure. Instead of diversifying, the recommendation is to select one firm, learn it thoroughly, and operate strictly within that firm’s rule set.
Account Type Guidance
- Cash Accounts: Tratavate is praised as an ideal option with a simple DOM and reliable execution. Ninja Trader is also noted as a solid choice for PC users.
- Prop Accounts: Traders are cautioned to do their homework. Tradeify and Buy Funded Futures are mentioned positively. Apex receives mixed feedback—some users are paid out while others struggle due to misunderstanding or breaking rules. The message is clear: know the rules and follow them precisely.
Core Strategy: Trading the Volume Edges
The core of Micros Trader's methodology revolves around identifying and executing trades at the market’s “edges” using volume profile analysis.
The Concept of Edges vs. Home Base
Micros Trader differentiates between high-probability edges and the low-probability center.
- Point of Control (POC): Marked as a red line on the volume profile, the POC is the price where most volume has occurred. Micros Trader calls this "home base" and discourages trading here due to a lack of price follow-through.
- Edges: The edges are defined as the upper and lower boundaries of the value area—the 70% range of volume. These spots offer reversion potential either back to the POC or across to the other edge. Trading from these edges provides a clear statistical advantage.
Volume Profile as a Strategic Tool
Micros Trader stresses that the volume profile gives traders a window into what’s happening “under the hood” of price action. Rather than relying on traditional session highs and lows, the volume profile reveals where traders are actually committing capital. This gives clarity and helps remove emotional bias.
Case Study: Trading the Lower Edge
- Setup: Price dropped into the lower value area edge.
- Opportunity: This was a textbook long setup, aiming for reversion to the POC.
- Outcome: The trade returned to the POC and extended all the way to the upper value area, delivering a strong 30-point move.
- Lesson: Both Micros Trader and another trader missed the entry by very small margins—a point and a tick. This serves to highlight how precise edge-based trading must be.
The Psychology of Discipline: Choosing a Master
Micros Trader shifts the conversation to the psychological battle that defines a trader’s long-term outcome. Using a biblical analogy, he states that a trader cannot serve two masters. You must choose: your plan or your impulses.
The Trader’s Dichotomy
Each trading day, the trader is confronted with a decision:
- Master: Serve the trade plan.
- False Gods: Bow to FOMO, Greed, Pride, Fear, or the siren call of Twitter gurus.
Micros Trader is blunt in this assertion: “Your trade plan is either your master or it’s a suggestion.” Any deviation—no matter how minor—is a betrayal of your trading discipline.
Tools for Maintaining Discipline
- Simple Trade Checklist: Ask yourself, “Did this follow my plan?” The answer is binary—yes or no. There is no “but this one looked really good” exception.
- Objective Journaling: Judge yourself not on outcome but on process. Did your trading activity match the plan? If so, you earn a grade of A or B. If not, the grade is an automatic F.
- Consistency Across Accounts: Evaluation accounts must not be treated differently. Micros Trader warns that using them for “gambling” or “just trying things” erodes your identity as a risk-first trader. Skill development requires consistent discipline.
Key Quotes on Patience and Execution
Micros Trader closes the session with two mantras:
- “Waiting is part of execution.”
- “There’s another high probability trade around the corner.”
These are not just quotes—they represent a trader’s operating system. Patience is execution. Consistency builds edge. And opportunity is always coming—if you are prepared to wait for it.
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