Trade Plan for 7/29-8/2

Earnings, FOMC and end of month

Last week I wrote:

Sure enough the indices held immediate supports out of the gate, but then bears hit the $ES/SPX futures resistance hard at high of week 5629.75. 🎯 The next time 5548.25 was hit, it sliced right through like butter because there was ‘a lack of support underneath.’  On Wednesday morning I wrote:

I tried a dip buy at the first support underneath, because I felt that there was a high probability of price coming back above that level should a gap down occur, and it was harrowing, but worked out well in the end.  On Thursday at the end of day I spotted a diamond formation consolidation and that played out overnight with an uptrend filling it out. ✅

I remained slightly optimistic overall for precious metals, but really I was just looking for them to close above critical supports.  While gold did, silver did not.

I was looking for a dip buy in crude oil last week, and it closed just above my buy range. ✅

Summary of Market Action Last Week:

• $ES/SPX futures and $NQ/Nasdaq futures each traded higher on Monday and then closed red Tuesday-Thursday before once again closing higher on Friday. The bookend green closes weren’t enough for bulls and each closed red for the week.  $RTY/small caps held continued relative strength yet again closing green.  

• $GDX/gold miners closed red and inline with indices.  Like the indices, $GC/gold futures and $SI/Silver futures took a tumble midweek and could not recover.

• $CL/Crude Oil futures and $XOP/oil equities both lost ground on the week, but $XOP did recover nicely from weekly lows. 

Here’s how last week closed out:

For the week ahead (07/29 - 08/02/24)