Wednesday Dec 10: Daily Trade Plan and Price Action Zones for S&P Futures
BEST MES MICROS SETUPS
Wednesday December 10, 2025
In today’s volatile markets, professional traders distinguish themselves not by prediction, but by preparation, discipline, and collaboration. This transcript outlines five counter-intuitive principles that guide seasoned futures traders, emphasizing structured routines, patience as a tactical advantage, and the importance of community feedback. Rather than relying on intuition or impulse, professionals follow a predefined battle plan developed before the market opens. The piece ultimately argues that trading is a business—not a bet—and success depends on systematizing decision-making, not chasing price action.📖 AM Briefing Overview & Key Points - Trading Discipline Before FOMC
Today's briefing focuses on building out your professional workstation (Section 8 of the Battle Plan Builder) while analyzing yesterday's challenging pre-FOMC price action. We discuss the critical skill of recognizing when NOT to trade, celebrating no-trade days, and the importance of only taking entries you can defend before a council of traders.
- Define Your Professional Workstation: Where will you trade? What's your setup? Think through your backup plans NOW before disaster strikes. What happens if you lose electricity? Internet goes down? Computer freezes? Mouse stops working? Have your broker's phone number saved in your phone so you can exit trades by voice if needed. Always keep that stop in. Personally, I only trade from my main computer at my trade desk—no mobile, no laptop. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt and the prison teardrop tattoo. You do you, but define what that looks like in your trade plan.
- The No Trade Club Deserves Celebration: Not everyone knows what you're going through, but we do. Iron sharpens iron. Yes, we celebrate 10-point, 20-point, and 100+ point runners—those deserve recognition. But you know what else deserves celebration? A disciplined no-trade day. Knowing when to say "no thank you, Mr. Market" is an underrated skill. Most of your edge is keeping your trading platform closed until you've got a clean, clear, crisp setup. Brute forcing trades does not work. Ask me how I know. If you had a no-trade day because you were being disciplined and it just wasn't your price action, go make that post inside the no trade club.
- Yesterday Was a Warning Day: Day before FOMC with a big warning candle and an ATR of only 2.0 with 30 minutes left in the session. Jesse Livermore said there are times to go long, times to go short, and times to go fishing. Yesterday was a go fishing day. I only wanted entries I could defend before a council of traders—that's the standard for special days like this. Use your journaling software to mark these special days so you can filter and analyze: How do I perform on days before FOMC? On CPI days? Day after major events? This archival data is gold.
- What Makes a Good Trading Day?: First requirement—are you the best you? Trading requires the best you, and that includes your equipment and your workstation. Second, is price creating clean, clear, crisp levels? Third, is it respecting those levels? How much heat are you getting at each level? Touch and go is beautiful. Five points past every level hanging out for 12 minutes then coming back? Not my jam. Triple taps at every level? I don't enjoy that price action. That's me, you do you.
- Time of Day Matters: Should you really be trading New York lunch? Does your trade analytics support it? Mine doesn't, unless I'm at a really good battle plan trade location. What's the ATR telling you? I tend to like it around 6, 8, 10 because I want price to move. A 2.0 ATR with triple taps everywhere? Is it shocking they go together? Absolutely not. This all factors into "should I be trading right now?"
- Yesterday's Battle Plan Trade: We only called out one trade—the reclaim retest of the strong level targeting London high. I actually recommended you NOT take it, but if you did, you did well and I hope you closed your platform and walked away. I personally said I wouldn't trade until we got to a specific lower level where I wanted to see a bigger pullback. Did I get that trade? Nope. No trade day for me, and I honored what I said earlier. The levels stayed consistent with the previous day because it was an inside day—we didn't go anywhere.
- Sometimes Perfect Setups Happen When You Can't Trade: That level I was waiting for? It finally hit during my Bible study time with my wife. I had an order sitting there and thought "George, you can't manage this trade properly." So I removed it. Would it have worked? Yeah, it actually would have been beautiful. But I couldn't nurse my trade, so I was out. If this turns out to be the move that breaks out and skyrockets north this morning, oh well—we'll look for a new setup. That's how it goes. Battle Plan 2 alerted this morning worked beautifully if you caught it. I missed it because I couldn't manage it. And you know what? That's okay.
- Market Snapshot: Russell showing three days of the exact same halfback going nowhere. Dow took the low and looks like it's laddering back. NQ barely made it under the halfback. If you were in Battle Plan 2 this morning with core strategy off the break level, you're very happy right now. ES made an inside day with multiple triple taps—not my favorite environment but some of you crushed it.
- Daily Prompt for Your Journal: Where did you trade like a professional today? At the end of the week, ask again: Where did I trade like a professional this week? Use the special day filter in your trading software to track your performance on unique market days. This data will teach you about yourself and your edge over time.
- Get Tomorrow's Trades Tonight: Visit microstrader.com and click battle to access your battle plan. Right now there's a special offer—first month half off at $25 for just the battle plan and strong levels. I'll see my traders live 15 minutes before the market opens.
Opening Remarks
The opening bell explodes with energy. Orders flood the tape. Traders panic, asking themselves, “We’re going up! No, we’re going down! Should I short now??” This is the moment that divides the market. On one side, you have the amateur who is chasing, guessing, and sweating. On the other, the professional trader who is calm and confident.
This confidence doesn't come from a secret algorithm or a magical ability to predict the future. It comes from a set of powerful, counter-intuitive principles that guide every decision. Here are five key takeaways from a professional's daily playbook.
1. The Most Important Trading Happens Before the Market Opens
A professional trader’s day is largely defined before the 9:30 AM bell ever rings. The night before, they receive their "Daily Battle Plan"—not a vague market outlook, but a professional-grade roadmap mapping out key setups and critical levels.
Their morning routine isn't passive. Over their morning coffee, the trader doesn’t just read the plan; they watch the AM Briefing on YouTube, fire up their custom TradingView indicators, and physically mark up their charts. They are internalizing a strategy, not just consuming information.
This meticulous preparation reduces cognitive load and mitigates decision fatigue, preserving precious mental capital for execution rather than analysis during the chaos of market hours. It transforms trading from a panicked reaction into the confident execution of a pre-defined plan.
2. Professionals Don’t Predict, They Prepare
The amateur trader is often found chasing every market move, attempting to predict the next big swing. In contrast, the professional is executing a systematic strategy. They aren’t gambling; they are preparing for specific, high-probability scenarios. The mindset difference at the opening bell is stark.
Picture this: It’s 9:30. The opening bell explodes with energy. Orders flood the tape. Traders panic… “We’re going up! No, we’re going down! Should I short now??” They’re chasing. They’re guessing. They’re sweating. But you’re not. You’re calm. You’re confident.
This confidence is born from clarity. When you have a plan and know exactly what you are looking for, you are no longer lost in the chaos. You are simply waiting for the market to present one of your pre-planned setups.
3. The Myth of the Lone-Wolf Trader
Forget the image of the lone wolf trader, isolated and battling the markets. True professionals build an edge through collaboration.
They understand that solo trading creates an emotional echo chamber, making them vulnerable to confirmation bias and destructive habits. Our motto is true: "Together We Trade Better." Before the market even opens, professionals are working side-by-side on Zoom, reviewing the Battle Plan. Throughout the day, they receive real-time levels, entries, and guidance in a live community on Zoom (AM) and Discord (PM).
This provides real-time, objective feedback that short-circuits destructive emotional patterns.
You should never trade alone… iron sharpens iron, and with us by your side, you’re never left guessing.
4. Patience Is an Offensive Strategy
In a fast-moving market, the psychological enemy is FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), which drives impulsive decisions. For professionals, patience is the antidote. They act as "patient predators," waiting for the highest quality setups from the Battle Plan to unfold.
This disciplined waiting is only possible because of the work done before the market opens. The Daily Battle Plan doesn't just map out trades; it defines the conditions for engagement, turning patience from a passive virtue into an offensive weapon.
It allows you to conserve capital and mental energy, deploying them only when a pre-identified, high-probability opportunity appears.
5. Mastery Is About Building a Business, Not Just Placing Trades
Following trade ideas is one thing; mastering the craft of trading is another. The ultimate goal is to learn to see the market through a professional's eyes, starting with an educational foundation like the Core Strategy Academy where traders "Earn Your Badges."
This involves a guide who can explain the "why" behind each opportunity and drill sound trading principles until they become second nature. This process is then reinforced by creating a personal performance feedback loop. Using journaling software, every trade, decision, and lesson is captured.
This turns subjective trading feelings into objective data, allowing you to become your own coach and systematically eliminate behavioral flaws. The objective is to stop thinking about individual trades and start systematically building a real trading business, one disciplined decision at a time.
Conclusion: From Guessing to Executing
The gap between amateur and professional trading isn't about having a better crystal ball. It’s about replacing emotional guesswork with an interconnected system grounded in preparation, community, patience, and a business-owner's mindset.
By focusing on the process before the market opens and during the quiet moments, the chaos of the trading day becomes manageable and opportunities become clear. It leads to a final, critical question: What if the biggest risk in your trading isn't the market, but entering it without a battle plan?
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