The futures have been stuck in a tight range for two weeks, inflicting pain, tedium and frustration on bulls and bears alike. The snarky feints that pass for price movement these days could challenge even the nimblest of day traders. With the bull market now in its ninth year, however, we should seek to leverage the rallies rather than the declines. At the moment, that means focusing on the pattern shown and its 2439.00 target. There’s little reason to think the futures won’t get there, since they haven’t failed to reach an important rally target since 2008. Pivoteers will notice that the futures have been on a mechanical ‘buy’ signal since last Monday, when they returned to the green line after hovering well above it for a week. In retrospect, we should be glad we didn’t get long then, since we’d have been roundly thrashed without having gotten stopped out. Now, we can use the red line to facilitate a ‘mechanical ‘ entry on our terms if and when the time comes, but we should also be prepared to seize the opportunity if the futures take off Sunday evening. A ‘ camouflage’ pattern like the one I’ve sketched (see inset) would be ideal for this if you work the night shift, so consider the chart a heads-up. _______ UPDATE (Apr 11, 6:45 p.m. ET): More of the same. On the remote chance that the futures actually fall without the obligatory bullish reversal into day’s end, you can use 2303.75 as a target. It can be found on the 60-minute chart, using A=2388.75 from 3/16.
