How Do You Set A Stop Loss On A Runner In ES Futures? | AM Briefing #887
ES CHART | KEY LEVELS | SETUPS
Today’s Schedule
| Pre-MarketAM Briefing | Watch on YouTube |
| 15 Minutes Prior to OpeningES Live Trading Room | Join the Live Room |
| After Market CloseBattle Plan | Get Tonight’s Battle Plan |
Today at a Glance
Keep the stop where your read says the trade is wrong. On yesterday's short, failing to take back the overnight high was George's canary in the coal mine, so a stop above the overnight high and the previous day POC would have survived and easily paid a 100 plus pointer.
- Date: Friday, October 30, 2026
- Overnight: ES did not stay close to yesterday's POC in the overnight session.
- News Drivers: Exxon and Chevron report earnings before the open on the last trading day of the month, with Apple, AMD, the congressional elections and non-farm payroll coming up next week.
- Lesson of the Day: Keep your runner's stop where your read says you are wrong… yesterday that meant above the overnight high.
- Key Zones: The Bull Bear Line, the bottom of the range level the bulls defended all day with a Strong Level down in there, the Battle Plan 2 drop zone, and the overnight high.
ES Technical Analysis — AM Briefing 887 Timeline
Friday October 30, 2026
| TIME | CHAPTER |
|---|---|
| 0:00 | Welcome ES MES Futures Traders |
| 0:32 | Be Content With Your Wages This week's scripture fits a week with no hundreds of points on deck. Let the patience muscle rest and grow. |
| 1:10 | Earnings and Next Week's Lineup Exxon and Chevron report before the open. Apple, AMD, the elections and non-farm payroll come next week. |
| 2:11 | Friday Rules: Never Give Your Week Back Go into the weekend a winner. Consider a smaller daily stop limit and adjust your Tradovate risk settings. |
| 2:49 | Pick Your Friday Play Money Up 56 points and want to keep 50? You have 6 points to play with today. |
| 3:42 | Trade Buddy Journal Toolbar The floating journal can now be a toolbar item, borrowed from Chart Commander. Look for version 2.10. |
| 4:41 | Chart Buddy Docked Panels Choose floating or docked panels and shrink the launcher bar. |
| 6:07 | Launcher Bar and Micro Panel Turn off the launcher bar, keep the timeframe bar, and drag docks where your cursor lives. |
| 6:39 | Favorites Toolbar Size Slider Make the favorites toolbar larger for easier reading. |
| 7:16 | New Indicators Panel The panel matches your chart background so candles no longer go behind it, and one click turns an indicator on or off. |
| 8:37 | Legend Font Size Change the indicator legend font size and zip the panel closed. |
| 9:26 | Shift F Full Screen Go full screen and keep your quick panels in view. |
| 10:06 | Where Your Runner's Stop Belongs A stop above the overnight high would have survived and paid a 100 plus pointer. George took a 60 pointer. |
| 11:12 | Bull Bear Line Retests Nice bounce, then retest after retest, softening it up in case price gets back above. |
| 11:26 | Battle Plan 1 Notes A bottom of the range long at a level the bulls defended all day. Wait for laddering. |
| 12:30 | Why Waiting Kept You Safe Price never lost the level, so there was no entry. It didn't map out that way. |
| 13:32 | Battle Plan 2 and the Drop Zone No shame in waiting for a better, deeper, more greedy trade location. |
| 14:07 | Higher Time Frame Watch Watching a 4 hour level as ES gets into the drop zone for a possible ladder back up. |
| 14:31 | Trade It Live Together Live trading starts 15 minutes before the open. Friday rules are in full effect. |
Be Content With Your Wages… Never Give Your Week Back on Friday
Posted: Friday October 30, 2026
Happy Friday… last trading day of the month, and Friday rules are in full effect. This week's scripture fit the tape perfectly: be content with your wages. This ES futures morning briefing covers how to protect your week on a Friday and how to manage a runner in futures by keeping the stop where your read says you are wrong. It also covers why waiting for a level to lose and reclaim kept you safe when the trade never mapped. Battle Plan 1 is a bottom of the range long, and Battle Plan 2 waits on the drop zone for a better, deeper, more greedy trade location.
Be Content With Your Wages
This week's scripture… be content with your wages. It was the perfect scripture for this week, because this has not been one of those weeks with hundreds of points on deck.
So let that patience muscle get exercise. Our patience muscles have been in full contraction all week. Now we let them rest over the weekend so that muscle grows.
What's on deck today and next week:
| Date | Event | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Fri Oct 30 | Exxon and Chevron earnings before the open | Last trading day of the month… Friday rules in full effect |
| Mon Nov 2 | Apple earnings after the close | Volatility inbound… maybe |
| Tue Nov 3 | AMD earnings after the close | Volatility inbound… maybe |
| Next week | Congressional elections | Volatility inbound… maybe |
| Next week | Non-farm payroll | Volatility inbound… maybe |
Friday Rules Are in Full Effect
Go into the weekend a winner. George would rather you go into the weekend a winner than risk any of that today.
Trader Lesson 1
Never give your week back on Friday. Go into the weekend a winner.
- Smaller daily stop limit: Consider a smaller daily stop limit on Friday, even if you had a really nice week.
- Adjust your Friday risk settings: Especially if you trade on Tradovate. Go in and adjust your risk settings today, and it locks you out.
- Leverage: Strict adherence to your leverage metrics.
- Play money: Either give yourself nothing to play with on Friday, or pick a percentage of your weekly profits.
Trader Lesson 2
Pick a percentage of your weekly profits to play with on Friday. Up 56 points on the week and want to preserve 50? You have 6 points you can play with today.
George did exactly that yesterday. He took a 60 pointer instead of a 50 pointer because he wanted those 10 extra points to play with.
How to Manage a Runner: Where the Stop Belongs
A member asked about holding lotto runners longer. Yesterday George was short, and she was short too, at a better position. His stop was originally above the overnight highs.
He told the group: if we fail to take the overnight highs back, that's the canary in the coal mine… we're going down. That philosophy put the optimal stop above the overnight high. Kept there, behind the overnight high and the previous day POC, it would have survived all of it and easily had a beautiful 100 plus pointer.
Instead, as price pushed back down, he moved his stop in to capture the 60 pointer. No problem. Still a nice 60 pointer, and he's very pleased with it. But it's worth talking about.
Trader Lesson 3
Keep your runner's stop where your read says you are wrong. If failing to take back the overnight high is your canary in the coal mine, your stop belongs above the overnight high… and the previous day POC.
From there, price made it to the Bull Bear Line. Nice bounce, got underneath it, then retested it, retested it, retested it… softening it up in case price can get back above.
Battle Plan 1️⃣: The Bottom of the Range Long
The notes in last night's Battle Plan matter today. Battle Plan 1️⃣ is a bottom of the range long, the same Battle Plan trade as yesterday. George was less aggressive in the follow through, for obvious reasons. Be cautious here.
- The level: The bulls defended this level all day long, and there's a Strong Level right down in there.
- The fear: If the bulls decide to lose it, it could be quite a strong move to the south.
- The plan: Wait for laddering.
- The timing: George preferred to see this trade happen quickly if the overnight session stayed relatively close to yesterday's POC. That didn't happen… so it doesn't matter.
The plan went out with an alert in the Discord group. Did price bounce off the Bull Bear Line? It did. Did it lose the level and get back above? No.
Trader Lesson 4
If you wait for price to lose the level and get back above before you go long, you are safe. Why? Because there was no entry. It didn't map out that way.
Trader Lesson 5
Taking a long off the Bull Bear Line where you expect a bounce? Sure. You just have to be a professional trader… know where you're wrong and get out in case it doesn't work.
Battle Plan 2️⃣: No Shame in Waiting for the Drop Zone
The Battle Plan 2️⃣ note asks one question: can the bulls defend the Bull Bear Line again? Down in the drop zone is where George thought the optimal entry would be.
Trader Lesson 6
No shame in waiting for a better, deeper, more greedy trade location.
- So far: Price made it down and the bulls defended it. It has not dropped into the drop zone yet.
- The setup: It's looking like price will get the chance to drop into the drop zone, get back up and possibly give an entry… and we will trade that.
- The higher time frame: George is also watching a 4 hour level he still thinks NQ needs to get to, in connection with ES getting into the drop zone and possibly laddering back up.
- The wish: He'd love to see price get into the deeper part of the drop zone.
The cool part? We trade it live together, starting 15 minutes before the market opens.
Member Updates: Trade Buddy and Chart Buddy
Big updates this round for full members. George is building everything from Chart Commander into the Chrome extensions too. The updates should be pushed out to your Chart Buddy and Trade Buddy extensions.
- Trade Buddy journal in the toolbar: The floating journal bar was nice at first, but George was moving it out of the way too often. Now you can make it a toolbar item. Click A for your annotations, click the paper and pencil to open and close your journal. Look for version 2.10, approved by Google. When it shows up depends on when Google pushes it out to you.
- Docked or floating panels: Chart Buddy panels can now float or dock. Open the object tree and it stays docked. Drag the docks up and down… George keeps his in the middle, close to where his cursor lives, so he can switch timeframes fast.
- Launcher bar: Short labels under 5 characters make the launcher bar smaller. There's also a thin launcher mode. You can now turn the main launcher bar off and keep only the timeframe bar, the micro panel.
- Favorites toolbar slider: TradingView won't let you change the size of the favorites toolbar. Now you can. Great for older eyes.
- New indicators panel: The panel now matches your chart background, solid or gradient, so the candles no longer go behind it. A single click turns an indicator on or off… no more hunting for the little eyeball. Click Indicators again to zip it up.
- Legend font size: Change the font size of your indicator legend. George runs his toolbar and his legend font at about 120.
- Full screen: Shift F from the launcher bar goes full screen, and your quick panels stay right there.
"Never give your week back on Friday."
COMMON QUESTIONS FOR ES FUTURES TRADERS
How should you trade ES futures on a Friday?
A: Friday rules are in full effect. Go into the weekend a winner and never give your week back on Friday… George would rather you go into the weekend a winner than risk any of your week today. Consider a smaller daily stop limit even after a really nice week, adjust your Friday risk settings in Tradovate so the platform locks you out, and stick strictly to your leverage metrics.
How do you protect your weekly profits trading micro futures on Friday?
A: Either give yourself nothing to play with on Friday, or pick a percentage of your weekly profits. If you are up 56 points on the week and you want to preserve 50, you have 6 points you can play with today. On Thursday George took a 60 pointer instead of a 50 pointer so he would have 10 extra points to play with.
Should you go long off the Bull Bear Line in ES futures?
A: Taking a long off the Bull Bear Line where you expect a bounce? Sure. You just have to be a professional trader… know where you are wrong and get out in case it does not work. The Bull Bear Line is the key dividing level between bullish and bearish bias in the Battle Plan.
Why wait for price to lose a level and reclaim it before going long?
A: Because when the level never breaks, there is no entry, and you are safe. After the Battle Plan went out, price bounced off the Bull Bear Line and did not lose the level, so a trader waiting for price to lose it and get back above never had an entry. It didn't map out that way.
What is a bottom of the range long in the ES Battle Plan?
A: Battle Plan 1 on Friday was a bottom of the range long, the same Battle Plan trade as Thursday, with a less aggressive follow through. The bulls defended that level all day long, and a Strong Level sits right down in there. George's fear: if the bulls decide to lose it, it could be quite a strong move to the south… so wait for laddering.
What is laddering in ES futures trading?
A: In Friday's Battle Plan, laddering means waiting for price to drop into the zone and ladder back up before you take the trade. George's note on Battle Plan 1 was wait for laddering, and on Battle Plan 2 he was watching for ES to get down into the drop zone and possibly give a ladder back up.
What is the drop zone in the ES Battle Plan?
A: The drop zone is the deeper area George mapped in Battle Plan 2 for a better, deeper, more greedy trade location. The plan is for price to drop down into the drop zone, get back up, and possibly give an entry. He said he would love to see price get into the deeper part of it.
How do you hold a lotto runner longer in ES futures?
A: Keep the stop where your read says the trade is wrong. On Thursday's short, George told the group that if price failed to take the overnight high back, that was the canary in the coal mine and price was going down. By that philosophy, the optimal stop sat above the overnight high and the previous day POC. That stop would have survived and easily paid a 100 plus pointer. He moved his stop in and still captured a nice 60 pointer.
What does be content with your wages mean for futures traders?
A: It was the week's scripture, and it fit a week with no hundreds of points on deck. George called it a week to let the patience muscle get exercise. That muscle has been in full contraction, and resting it over the weekend lets it grow.
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