Another day playing the role of the “trapper,” placing orange boxes on charts and leveraging market psychology.

+5 ticks for this trade today, including one that replicates the new system I developed last week.

Let me explain my thought process behind this profitable ES trade.

It’s Risky, but It Seems to Pay Off – PLUS 5

I began watching the market open and noticed the price starting a downtrend. There were a few levels I was monitoring, looking for clear signals from other traders.

Eventually, prices reached a significant low, but you’ll notice it didn’t exactly match the price of the low wick.

When the price was in this area, I saw quite a few buyers enter the market. However, knowing that the price hadn’t reached the same level as the low wick, I had a feeling the bears still wanted to test that area.

I observed that each time the EMA was tested during this downtrend, the downward movement continued.

However, for this particular move, I felt that any “early” sellers could get trapped if they entered too soon. I noticed that on my entry candle, early sellers were trapped in the market, having entered below the bearish bar at the EMA. Price immediately moved against these traders after their entry.

You can see this trap in the orange bar. I quickly entered a stop order and waited for a simple +5 ticks, which was achieved before the price eventually moved in the direction those sellers expected.

I did say it was risky – MINUS 10

Up to this point, I had not lost a trade using this method. This, therefore, was my first loss.

Typically, I was correct that this was a trap. But unfortunately, I entered too early and, as a result, I was caught in the trap myself. The trapper got trapped.

Here, you can see a large bullish candle breaking through resistance. Price immediately reversed, making it look like a great place to sell. So, of course, I entered in the opposite direction, expecting the sellers to be stopped out.

As I mentioned, and as you can see in the second picture, that is exactly what happened. I was just too early on my entry, even though I felt my entry was quite high compared to the price. Price still came up to find me and take away my earlier profit, plus some.

-10 ticks on this trade.

Sometimes You Have to Trust Your Gut – MINUS 3

Following my earlier bias, I was convinced that this trap would play out. And IT DID!

However, my emotions were not right. I exited my trade manually, thinking I had made the wrong choice—something I am sure many of you have done as well. This is my inexperience as a trader.

Realising that price had now formed this large bullish candle, and the next candle would have triggered more sellers, the trap was set. I entered long, with my take profit a tick above the previous high, knowing stops would be placed there.

Look at the second picture. You’ll see that after I entered, price gave us one huge sell signal bar. This didn’t look promising. I closed my trade early.

Annoyingly, if I had trusted my initial analysis, you’ll see in that second picture that I would have made the trade, just as I expected.

Trust my gut.

Trust Prevails – Back to break even – PLUS 8

You’ll notice from the pictures below that I continued watching the market. I had drawn another area where I saw traders getting trapped.

I want you to look at my take profit on this trade. It proves my theory about how the market traps everyone. Exactly 1 tick above the previous high, before the price pulls away from the area, trapping these traders.

I took this trade after seeing no real selling pressure. There were many bearish wicking candles, but nothing with conviction. I noticed that sellers had once again been trapped on the wrong side of the market.

My personal view is that I need to work on better entries because I am leaving a lot of money on the table.

Either way, this was a +8 tick trade, and it brings me back to break even (minus fees).

When It’s Choppy – Don’t Trade – Minus 7

I noticed that the price had stalled, and I felt as though it was about to start heading back in line with the bearish move that we saw at the beginning of the day.

But actually, it was just choppy and I shouldn’t be trading here.

Notice in the picture, I marked an area “perfect trap”. That is what I need to focus my trading on. In that trade, the price really did give everyone the idea that a short was the best trade. Only to immediately reverse.

I couldn’t resist this one – Plus 7

And just as I say, I’m logging off, another opportunity shows up. This one, I had to take – but I HAVE now closed the charts. This was my last trade of the day

This trade was close to perfect. Price bounced off the EMA, following an amazing area that looked for traders to go short.

Price continued much higher as I closed my charts.

It just makes you wonder, if I had just left open my first long trade of the day – how much would I have made…

I guess in trading, you’ll never know.