Level 10 Trading Conditions: How to Trade FOMC, CPI & NFP Days

The most dangerous sessions on the futures calendar carry a rating. When the rating hits Level 10… you trade small, trade once, or Stand Down.

From the free MicrosTrader Trading Library… 140 lessons mined from 1,042 live ES and MES futures sessions taught since 2018.

Level 10 trading conditions means George's maximum-danger rating for a session in the ES E-mini futures. FOMC, CPI, non-farm payroll, PCE, contract rollover, option expiration, and the days surrounding them all earn the rating. On a Level 10 day, price whipsaws through levels, traps both sides, and punishes the setups that work on a normal day. The rating tells you exactly how to respond: extra caution, reduced size, or no trading at all.

This page gathers everything George teaches about event-day trading across years of live ES and MES micro futures sessions… which days earn the Level 10 label, how far to stand back from a red-folder release, why news candles respect no levels, and why Stand Down counts as a legitimate trading decision.

“"We're in the week going into FOMC. So this is Tuesday, the day before FOMC and contract rollover. I strongly encouraged… be careful. It's Level 10 trading conditions."”

— George, live session, Dec 14, 2025

ES futures Battle Plan chart from George’s published record

From George’s published record: Micros Trade Plan #323 — a 80-point move, mapped in advance.

The Level 10 Calendar: Which Days Earn the Rating

Every one of these events appears on the economic calendar weeks in advance. That's the gift. You never get ambushed by FOMC. George builds his whole week around the news drivers, and he rates the danger out loud in every AM Briefing. Here's the event-by-event playbook:

George gave NFP its nickname for a reason… "I affectionately give it the acronym Not For Professionals. This is a day retail traders get black eyes, get clobbered, and get murdered on the chart" (May 9, 2026). And here's a wrinkle most traders miss: the market reacts hardest to CPI, but the Fed itself watches PCE more closely.

“"PCE doesn't normally have the same reaction that CPI does, but the Fed says they actually look at the PCE number more than they look at the CPI number."”

— George, live session, Feb 28, 2025

George has taught this in 60+ recorded sessions… and every claim in the full lesson links to the recording it came from. The full lesson covers far more than fits here.

Read the full lesson free at MicrosTrader.com →

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📍 Originally published on MicrosTrader.com

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