AM Briefing #833 — Never Give Back Your Week On Friday
AM BRIEFING
ES CHART | KEY LEVELS | SETUPS
ES Technical Analysis — AM Briefing 833 Timeline
Friday August 14, 2026
| TIME | CHAPTER |
|---|---|
| 0:00 | Welcome ES MES Futures Traders |
| 0:45 | Core Retail Sales At The Bottom Of The Hour Friday opens with core retail sales due at the bottom of the hour, printing about 30 minutes into the trade. Plan around it. |
| 1:01 | News Drivers For Next Week On deck next week: the FOMC minutes, the Philly Manufacturing Index, and unemployment claims. Map your levels ahead of them. |
| 1:09 | Never Give Back Your Week On Friday Friday rolls into the weekend. A winner never gives it back. Pick a fixed percentage of the week's profit you are willing to risk and protect yourself from yourself. |
| 1:17 | Adjust Your Friday Risk Settings Tighten the stop limit and hold strict adherence to the leverage matrix. Today is not OPEX, not non-farm payroll, not a pre-holiday Friday, so it is straight capital preservation. |
| 2:00 | The Week In Review: Battle Plan And Monday RTH Battle Plan 1 gave a little heat then ran 12 points in favor. Monday RTH paid a short and a long off different Strong Levels. |
| 2:18 | Battle Plan 2 In The Asia Session Battle Plan 2 triggered around midnight for international members in Asia. Almost no heat and a clean little move. |
| 2:35 | The Halfback Short To 7730 The halfback short traded live Tuesday, targeting 7730 and getting within 7 points. A tough hold that only went three and a half points against the entry before it worked. Take profit just before your level. |
| 3:02 | Thursday Live Stream Training George took a short, the traders took the long, and it worked out fantastic. Great training on the live stream. |
| 3:17 | Upper Distribution And The Breakout ES sits in the upper distribution of yesterday's range, above the previous all-time high. We broke the range, retested the top, and continued. Buy longs low, hold a runner for the breakout. |
| 3:51 | Know Your Trade Locations The worst place to short is a recap back into the range. Put the ranges on your chart and keep them there, member or not. |
| 4:14 | The Board At All-Time Highs NQ took yesterday's high, Dow sits in the lower distribution, Russell tagged a new all-time high yesterday. Everybody is near all-time highs. Certainly not bearish yet. |
| 4:37 | Bulls Control, Short With Care Above 7796 Hold above 7796 and be careful shorting. Lose it and price could rotate roughly 100 points to the range bottom, a low-odds Friday move. Bulls control. Shorts are counter. Small, if at all. |
| 5:21 | Membership Paths And The Ultimate $57 Trial Four ways in: the never-ending free trial, the Battle Plan Bootcamp, the YouTube Zoom simulcast, and the $7 Battle Plan trial. Combine two for the Ultimate $57 trial. We trade live 15 minutes before the open. |
MES MICROS TRADE PLAN
Never Give Back Your Week On Friday
Posted: Friday August 14, 2026
It is Friday. Core retail sales hit at the bottom of the hour and George wants your risk settings adjusted before the print, not after. This is a capital preservation morning. The market sits in the upper distribution of yesterday's range, above the previous all-time high, and the whole board is stacked at all-time highs. Bulls control. Shorts are counter. Small, if at all. The lesson of the day is simple and it protects your P&L more than any entry ever will: a winner never gives back the week on Friday. Pick your number, then protect yourself from yourself.
THE FRIDAY RULE: DON'T GIVE BACK THE WEEK
Friday rolls into the weekend. A winner never gives back their week on the last session. George wants you to treat Friday risk differently than any other day, and he wants it decided BEFORE the open, not in the heat of a trade.
- Adjust your Friday risk settings: tighten the stop limit and lock in strict adherence to the leverage matrix. Smaller size, smaller exposure.
- Pick a percentage of your weekly profit you are willing to risk. Say the week gave you 122 points. Decide the exact number you will put back on the table… and no more. If your week was even bigger, still pick a percentage and cap it.
- Protect yourself from yourself. That is the whole point. Go into the weekend a winner.
Context matters too. Today is not OPEX. Not non-farm payroll. Not a Friday before a bank holiday. So this is straight capital preservation, nothing more exotic than that.
Trader Lesson 1
Decide your Friday risk before the open. Pick a fixed percentage of the week's profit you will risk, tighten your settings to the leverage matrix, and go into the weekend a winner.
WHERE WE ARE: UPPER DISTRIBUTION, ALL-TIME HIGHS
Price sits in the upper distribution of yesterday's range and above the previous all-time high. We finally broke out of the range that had been holding, and range work is what we do well. Look for longs down at the low, hold a runner in case the breakout goes your direction, then let the retest of the range top confirm the continuation. That is exactly what played out… breakout, retest of the top, and continuation higher.
The rest of the board agrees. Here is the read across the indexes:
| ES | Upper distribution, above the previous all-time high. |
| NQ | Just took out yesterday's high. |
| Dow | Lower distribution. |
| Russell | Lower distribution after tagging a new all-time high yesterday. |
Everybody is parked near all-time highs. We are certainly not bearish yet.
Trader Lesson 2
Trade the range. Buy longs at the low, hold a runner for the breakout, and use the retest of the range top as your confirmation before you press.
BULLS CONTROL, SO SHORT WITH CARE
As long as we hold above 7796, be careful shorting. That does not mean you cannot short. It means you have to be perfect, because Bulls control. Shorts are counter. Small, if at all.
Could we get back underneath 7796 and rotate down to the bottom of the range? Sure. That is roughly a 100 point trip. On a Friday, with the bulls in control, that would be an incredible move. Have no expectation of it… map it, but do not lean on it.
Trader Lesson 3
Location decides everything. Fighting the trend near all-time highs demands a perfect short, and a recap back into the range is the worst place to try one.
THE WEEK IN REVIEW: WHAT THE PLAN PAID
How did we trade this week? The Battle Plan mapped the moves and the reviews tell the story.
- Battle Plan 1: gave a little heat, then ran 12 points in our favor.
- Monday RTH: took a short, then took a long off a different Strong Level. Both played out.
- Battle Plan 2: triggered around midnight in the Asia session for international members. Almost no heat and a clean little move.
- The halfback short: traded live Tuesday. The ultimate target was 7730 and price got within 7 points. It was a tough hold, back and forth for an hour, but it only went three and a half points against you before it made its way down.
- Thursday live stream: George took a short, the traders took the long, and it worked out fantastic. Great training.
Trader Lesson 4
Take profit just before your mapped level. The halfback short paid inside 7 points of the 7730 target because the exit was planned, not chased.
Trader Lesson 5
A tough hold is still a plan working. The halfback trade only went three and a half points against you across an hour of chop… conviction in a mapped level is what keeps you in it.
WHAT'S NEXT AND HOW TO GET INVOLVED
News drivers for next week: the FOMC minutes, the Philly Manufacturing Index, and unemployment claims. Plan around them.
If you are not a member yet, there are four paths in. The free path is the never-ending free trial: the Futures Foundations Course, the weekly SITREP email, a special email whenever George has a preferred trade, plus the Battle Plan Bootcamp and every Tuesday live stream. You can watch the Zoom simulcast right on YouTube. You can grab the Battle Plan for $7 for your first 30 days, and combined with the YouTube membership that is the Ultimate $57 trial (two separate subscriptions, join both). Full membership opens the Core Strategy Academy, the Chrome extensions, the day trading indicators, and Battle Plan Buddy.
We trade it live together 15 minutes before the market opens.
"I want you to protect yourself from yourself."
COMMON QUESTIONS FOR ES FUTURES TRADERS
Why should I trade smaller on Friday?
A: Friday rolls into the weekend and a winning week is easy to give back in one careless session. George's rule is to adjust your Friday risk settings, tighten to the leverage matrix, and pick a fixed percentage of the week's profit you are willing to risk. It protects the gains you already earned.
What does "Bulls control. Shorts are counter. Small, if at all." mean?
A: It is the bias rule for a bullish tape. With the market in the upper distribution and above the previous all-time high, longs are the primary trade. You can still short, but shorts are counter-trend, so keep them small or skip them, and only take the perfect one.
What is the key level on ES today?
A: 7796 is the line to watch. As long as ES holds above it, be careful looking for shorts. If price loses 7796, it opens a possible rotation down toward the bottom of the range, roughly 100 points lower, though that is a low-odds move on a Friday when bulls control.
What is a distribution in a range?
A: A distribution is a zone where price spends time building volume. Today ES sits in the upper distribution of yesterday's range, meaning it is trading in the higher-volume shelf near the highs rather than down at the range low.
Where is the worst place to look for a short?
A: When price comes back and recaps into a range you already broke out of. Shorting into that recap fights both the breakout and the trend. Knowing your trade locations keeps you from taking a low-probability short in the wrong spot.
What is a halfback and how did it trade this week?
A: The halfback is the midpoint of a prior session's range, used as a key level. The halfback short this week targeted 7730 and got within 7 points, holding through an hour of chop that only went three and a half points against the entry before it worked.
Why hold a runner when trading a range?
A: You buy longs at the range low and keep a runner open in case the market breaks out in your direction. If it breaks, the runner captures the extended move. If it holds the range, you have already taken profit on the core position.
What economic events matter next week?
A: The FOMC minutes, the Philly Manufacturing Index, and unemployment claims are the drivers to plan around. Map your levels ahead of them and moderate expectations into the releases.
What is the Ultimate $57 trial?
A: It combines the $7 Battle Plan trial for your first 30 days with the YouTube membership so you get the nightly ES entries plus the Zoom simulcast. They are two separate subscriptions, so you join both to unlock the full $57 trial.
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