ES & MES Futures Trade Plan #365
Battle Plan
Where To Go Long... Where To Go Short.
ES & MES FUTURES TRADE PLAN #365
TODAY'S REVIEW: ES FUTURES
420 Point Battle Plan Long
Well.. the 8-day hold ended today.
Capturing 420 points from the initial entry.
And an extra 130 points with an add-on last Thursday.
Here are the entries and exits.
For full disclosure, I did take two additional add-on trades, one for 10 points and one for three points, but they weren't worth documenting here.
The hold times are incorrect… I held the 7338.75 for 186 hours… 7+ days… as my "Lotto Runner". I simply added to my trade and exited the add-ons along the way. Upon exiting a trade, most trading platforms will adjust your "entry price" to your most current entry, thus closing out the oldest entry. That is how Tradovate does it.
As you add to your winning trades, be mindful how YOUR broker does it. You, as the professional trader, need to keep up with your entries and exits. It is entirely possible you sit up 300+ points on a MES long trade while the DOM shows a negative PNL, because price is lower than your latest add-on that already exited. It is what it is.
Here are my entries.
RTH Trading | ES Live Trading Room
These were the trade call outs today.
On Zoom James said, "Thanks for keeping us on. Right side of PA…I was bearish till you talked me off the ledge."
That is my job… Keeping traders on the right side of price action. See the "Tip Of The Day" below.
One long for 10 insta-points that eventually turned into a 20 pointer.
I encouraged traders to take their final ES profits at 20 points. The struggle to move higher was real. Sometimes you take your profit and call it a day. Green Over Greed.
When we failed to get the overnight high, I remarked that that could be the canary in the coal mine.
I was looking to be short under the opening.
We mapped one short… hoping that was gonna be the "big move" down. I said entry could land between 45 and 47. 47 was the perfect touch and go entry. I believe price went 10 points and then came back. That's what happens when the bulls control.
The down move finally happened, but it happened without me. Oh well, I can't be in every trade. We take our slice and walk.
Battle Plan 2️⃣ ES Long Trade Idea
We finally dropped into the drop zone for Battle Plan 2️⃣.
Make sure we read the notes for Battle Plan 2️⃣.
Battle Plan 2️⃣ Notes: "Minor long possible. Not sure I would engage in this myself as tomorrow is the day before NFP. I would prefer a nice 150+ point or so pullback. No need to rush into a trade after the lucrative seven days our system has provided. Pick your wave carefully."
In Discord, we were discussing this entry as it occurred.
I remarked, "The bulls are responding where we expected them to respond. Level development is almost non-existent," and I shared the notes for Battle Plan 2️⃣ for context.
See the ES chart below with the key levels marked.
Let's walk through this together.
Potential first Ladder??? See the white arrow in the below chart.
If it is, it's ugly.
Typically, I like to see a series of Fair Value Gapping candles… catapulting out of the green drop zone. Energetic price action is required in my humble opinion. ES needs to prove to me it doesn't want price this low.
Of course, look at the environment we sit in… We have run 450 points from last Wednesday's Battle Plan 3️⃣ entry. The risk of a massive slap your mama in the face liquidation break is ever present. And Dow is vomiting… but it finally arrived at a bounce level.
Can we ladder back up?
If you took the first ladder, you had an opportunity for a 10 to 15 pointer. With that ugly price action, there's no way I would have engaged in price there. I like easy trades.
What would I be looking for now?
See the yellow path in the ES chart below.
I am literally screenshotting as it happens.. These are the exact images I posted in Discord.
I need to see price accelerate to the north with some strong candles. Almost exactly as I drew in the yellow pathing.
These are not fair value gapping candles.
Price paints back and forth, back and forth the entire length of each candle.
This certainly would not inspire me to launch my trading platform… not yet.
"Getting interesting" was my Discord post.
Is that a FVG forming?
Nope. Price slammed right back down. No FVG.
No Laddering.
Day before NFP.
Follow through just stinks.
There are easier days to trade.
Think about it, we're up over 400 points straight up. Made new all-time-highs. And tomorrow is non-farm payroll.
At some point you have to tell yourself … There are easier days to trade.
Save yourself the mental and emotional drawdown.
Keep your powder dry.
For a moment there, YM looked like it was bouncing pretty well, then it fizzled hard.
NQ is stuck. ES is stuck.
Follow through has been extremely difficult the last two days … as expected after such a monster short-covering move blasting through all-time-highs.
Finally.. one FVG with a strong move up.
They are defending the Battle Plan 2️⃣ mapping, but it's messy to say the least.
A clear first ladder.
Will the 2nd ladder work???
I mapped a potential long.
Alert… POWER HOUR.
No More Trading… unless you have plenty of points to trade with and stay comfortably green.
You will recall on Zoom or YouTube that I collected 420 points instead of 400 as I wanted to use those additional points for any possible trades today.
I entered at 38 with a six point stop loss.
I was presented the "gift of break even" multiple times.
I chose to sit tight. See if price would jump back up.
After all… the bulls were defending and the bulls control.
But YM just couldn't gain ANY traction to the north. A big drag on our upward potential.
Now... this was the 2nd ladder… but the time of day stinks (not to mention the Price Action had a little bad-odor itself)!
See the image below.
When price pushed into the profit a couple points, I moved my stop up to a "paper cut stop loss"… minus two points.
By the way, this falls in line with... Learning to take a "half-loss" when appropriate.
Fully aware I'm within the final 30 minutes of trading, it seemed prudent.
And that concluded my day.
I took a 2-point stop loss in the final 22 minutes of the trading day.
Oh wells.
Despite YM's relentless selling, ES did pretty good.
Judging from the final minutes of the day, I did very well taking a two point stop loss.
I actually like taking half-losses. It says "I gave price a chance, but I did not allow it to hurt me at all".
There's always another high probability trade around the corner.
And traders... that's what we do.
We take break-even trades, we take small wins, we take BIG wins, we take small losses, but we never, ever, ever take big losses.
I will be flat going into non-farm payroll tomorrow.
Battle Plan 2️⃣ Did Well
Battle Plan 2️⃣ turned into a wall. It did its job well despite the circumstances as discussed.
Tip of the Day
You Are The Pilot:
Nobody flies the plane for you. I am just the navigator in the back seat calling out hazards on the horizon, pointing out opportunities and obstacles.
You are the pilot. Your hands, your entries, your stops. Fly accordingly.
Trader's Homework
“The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.” - John Wooden
When Tim saw the homework simulator, he remarked, “This hits so many things simultaneously: review, accountability, feedback, consensus/agreement on levels and their tradability.”
[trader_homework]Tomorrow's Live Streams
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AM Briefing 
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YouTube Live Stream 
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Scoreboard
Points Accumulated This Week:
Battle Plan: 0
Zero. Zilch. Nada.
There are NO high-probability trades near here.
It was a ... Hold that runner day OR Stand Down day.
🔥 400+ Pointer Long from Wednesday night's Battle Plan 3️⃣.
Zoom: 80+
🔥 10-20 Point on an outlined long.
Core Strategy: 104+ (Full Members)
🔥 MBS for 30-points. Find it!
ARE YOU NEW HERE
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[are_you_new_here]ECONOMIC CALENDAR
FRIDAY
MONDAY
View The Trade Setups
COMMON QUESTIONS FOR ES FUTURES TRADERS
What does Green Over Greed mean in the Micros Trader system?
A: Green Over Greed means you protect the profit you already have instead of reaching for the profit you imagine. Today the ES long gave up 20 points and the struggle to push higher was real. So we took it and called it a day. Green in the account beats a bigger number in your head... every time. Take your slice and walk.
What is a Stand Down day?
A: A Stand Down day is a day you choose not to trade because the conditions do not favor you. Today was one. Price ran over 400 points straight up into new all-time highs, follow through stunk, and non-farm payroll sits on the calendar tomorrow morning. No high-probability trades near here means no trades. Keep your powder dry. There are easier days to trade.
What is the Bull Bear Line and why does it matter for Battle Plan 6?
A: The Bull Bear Line is the mapped level that separates bullish control from bearish control on the day. Above it the bulls have the ball. Below it the shorts do. Battle Plan 6 is a wide sweeping long, and price could take back the RTH by a point or two and ladder back with a vengeance... or it drops all the way to the Bull Bear Line first. Personally, the Bull Bear Line is the favorite.
What are Strong Levels and how do I trade a reclaim?
A: Strong Levels are the heavy, well-tested price zones where buyers and sellers have fought before. They hold weight. When price loses a Strong Level and then reclaims it with snappy ladder back price action, that reclaim is your long trigger. Above 7420, look to add to your winning trade on the reclaim. No reclaim, no trade.
What is a paper cut stop loss?
A: A paper cut stop loss is a half-loss. You enter, price pushes a couple points into profit, and you move your stop to minus two points instead of your full six point risk. Today that took a 2-point stop loss in the final 22 minutes of the day instead of a full hit. It says I gave price a chance, but I did not allow it to hurt me at all. We take break-even trades, we take small wins, we take BIG wins, we take small losses, but we never, ever, ever take big losses.
MICROS TRADER BASICS
No Level, No Trade
No Level, No Trade is the foundational rule of the Micros Trader system. Every trade must be anchored to a pre-mapped level... a clean, clear, defined zone identified in the Battle Plan the night before. If price has not reached that level, there is no trade. No chasing. No improvising. No FOMO.
This single rule eliminates the majority of losing trades. Emotional entries happen when traders react to price instead of waiting for it. No Level, No Trade replaces that reaction with a plan.
Full lesson: No Level, No Trade in the Trading Library
📍 Originally published on MicrosTrader.com
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