Today was one of those sessions that was good—but could’ve been great. The market gave opportunity, my reads were solid, and I was up nicely early. By the end of the day, though, I knew I had given some back unnecessarily and left more on the table than I should have. This isn’t about beating myself up. It’s about honestly reviewing what happened and carrying the lessons forward. Today the Dow and Nasdaq told completely different stories. The Dow was strong and trending higher most of the day, while the Nasdaq was weak early and chopped around before trying to stabilize. Instead of choosing one market and committing to it, I tried to trade both, which split my focus and made execution harder than it needed to be. Lesson: When markets are moving in opposite directions, focus wins. Pick one and trade it well. The frustrating part is that my early trades were clean. I read Nasdaq weakness correctly, took a solid short near VWAP, managed risk well, and exited properly. The Dow trades early on were also structured and mechanical. Lesson: My process works when I stick to it. After building up about $1,100 in profits, things started to slip. I didn’t suddenly do anything reckless—instead, I began taking small, “harmless” trades. Those losses didn’t feel significant in the moment, but they added up quickly, and before I realized it, I had given back close to 60% of the gains. Lesson: Overtrading often feels comfortable, not dangerous. One of the biggest takeaways today was emotional. I’ve gotten better at managing frustration, but I underestimated how much positive emotion can affect discipline. Feeling confident and euphoric lowered my patience, and I stopped waiting for my best setups. Lesson: Positive emotion is still emotion—and it needs to be managed. There was one Nasdaq trade in particular that I should have held. The entry was nearly perfect, the market confirmed immediately, and structure supported continuation. I exited early because I didn’t trust the move, capturing only a fraction of what was available.

📊 Trading Session Recap What’s up, everybody?I hope you all had a great trading day. The futures markets were very different today—the Nasdaq was weak from the open, while the Dow was strong right out of the gate. 💡 We were able to capitalize within the first hour, going long on the Dow and short on the Nasdaq. Across the three accounts, I hit a high watermark of ~$1,100, but I made some mistakes, got a little complacent, and gave back about half of that profit. I finished the day with a 61% hit rate, trading 196 contracts, and 427 contracts total across all three accounts. Simply put—I gave far too much back to the market today. 🧠 Key Lesson from Today The biggest takeaway for me was realizing that I haven’t had a big win after the first 30–40 minutes of a session in quite some time. When that happens, even if I’m not feeling negative emotions, I can still be emotional from success—from the day itself and even from momentum built the day before. That sense of euphoria can quietly lead to complacency: ⚠️ When you’re in that state, you must stick to your trading plan: - Wait for the setups you clearly identified ahead of time - Do not take trades just because you’re up money - Do not assume a profitable day will continue on autopilot The market will take it back just as fast as it gives it. 🔒 Final Thoughts Overall, today was still a good day, and I felt solid throughout most of the session. That said, I gave too much back in the final 20 minutes. I need to be tighter, more disciplined, and more protective of my capital once profits are earned. If you have any questions from today, drop them in the community and I’ll get back to you.See you all tomorrow 👊

I hope everyone had a great day of trading. I spent the last 20 to 30 minutes of the video really breaking down the price action and the dynamics of futures markets, including what causes price action to move. If you’re looking for information on why the markets move or how they move, that final portion of the video will be especially helpful. Take care, guys. January 7th, 2026, Nasdaq Futures trade review. We were able to close with another green day today with $345.18 in the account. A win rate of 67.6% overall made for a really solid day. We were able to capture $412 just before commissions. Commissions were a little high today, but the win rate was good and the risk-to-reward was really solid throughout the entire session. When I came to the charts this morning to see where we were in the market, I could see that we had a pullback from yesterday’s uptrend. Price action showed the market bottoming out and forming support at 25,725. This support helped lift the market back to VWAP, and once the market opened, we moved higher. That move higher did not seem incredibly strong, so my thought process throughout the day was to wait for the move to fully materialize, then look to go short once some form of resistance developed above. The goal was to capture 20 to 30 points on those moves, and that approach worked out well. I had a few hiccups here and there with a couple of ideas, but staying above a 70% win rate for the day is where I want to be for my style of trading. It was a faster day in terms of taking profits because we were not in a big trend. That meant targets needed to be a bit closer, and it was important to be quick with entries and quick with exits. After the market stabilized around 25,825, we were able to break into a nice upward trend. That trend appears to be forming an upward channel and a continuation of the strength we saw from the action on Tuesday. Thank you, Guys.

Below is a clean, easy-to-read blog post written in a story + instructional style. It explains how the day unfolded, what I was watching, why I took trades, and what I learned, without sounding like a rulebook. This is suitable for a website, Substack, or Discord recap. Intraday Trading Recap: Reading Structure, Trusting VWAP, and Managing Winners Coming into today’s session, my focus was simple: define the higher-timeframe bias, identify key levels, and wait for price to confirm before getting involved. The goal wasn’t to trade frequently—it was to trade correctly. Pre-Market Bias: Setting the Framework (15-Minute Chart) Before the open, the 15-minute chart made one thing clear:25,675 was the most important level on the board. This price had significance for several reasons. It acted as algorithmic support the prior day, held during the London session, and marked the breakdown area from January 2nd. When multiple sessions and algorithms respect the same level, it becomes a natural breakout point. At the open: - The 8 EMA was above the 20 EMA - Price was holding above VWAP near 25,600 - Buying pressure was already present - The market opened with a slight push higher, paused briefly, and then broke through prior highs. That early expansion confirmed that the higher-timeframe uptrend was still intact. Price continued to show strength by riding the upper VWAP standard deviation band for about thirty minutes. When the pullback finally came, it retraced directly into a confluence of the 20 EMA and VWAP, which also lined up with the prior breakout level at 25,675. This was classic former resistance turning into support. After a period of consolidation, price resumed higher and expanded into new session highs. Confirming the Trend (5-Minute Chart) On the 5-minute chart, the story became even clearer. The opening drive broke the 25,650 algorithm, followed by a short two-bar consolidation. As the 8 and 20 EMAs turned upward, price broke the 50 algorithm and then pushed through the daily high at 25,675.

Happy Tuesday. Here’s a quick recap of today’s trading session on January 6, where I traded both the Nasdaq (NQ) and the Dow (YM) futures, with the majority of my focus on the Nasdaq. Market Context & Trade Thesis I started the session by staying patient and waiting for a pullback into key moving averages before looking for long opportunities. On the Nasdaq, price showed strong respect for the 6–10 algorithm, which acted as reliable support throughout the morning. Once that level held, the market lifted cleanly and offered several quality opportunities to the upside. Trade Execution & Results The first move higher on NQ produced a solid 50-point trade. On the initial pullback, I was able to capture an additional 15 points as the market continued to grind higher. After the second leg up, clean entry opportunities became harder to find, but I remained selective. I took two additional long trades: - One on the Nasdaq, capturing approximately 12–14 points - One on the Dow, capturing roughly 30 points While I didn’t catch the entire move higher, I was able to capture about 30% of the overall move, which I’m satisfied with given the low risk and controlled execution. Performance Metrics Across three accounts, I finished the day up $408. - Total trades: 31 - Winners: 19 - Losers: 12 - Win rate: ~61% That win rate is slightly lower than my average, but the key positive takeaway is that losers were kept small, while winners were allowed to run. There’s still room for improvement in trade management, but overall the price action was clean and tradable. Key Takeaways Today reinforced some core principles: - Patience pays - Stick to your plan - Avoid impulsive trades - Focus on low risk and consistency If you execute with discipline and let the market come to you, this space can be incredibly rewarding. I’ll be back later with a more in-depth breakdown, but for now, that wraps up today’s session. Hope everyone had a great trading day — take care.