2 Trading Strategies to Beat Non-Farm Payrolls

One more day left, are you ready?

Tomorrow isn’t your typical Friday; we have Non-Farm Payrolls early tomorrow morning, which means our window of opportunity will be smaller, and we need to make it count.

Not to worry – Non-Farm Friday has a distinct personality to it, and I always focus on two (2) specific trading strategies.  Let’s open the charts and I’ll show you…

E-Mini S&P (ES):

E-Mini Keys to Success:

• Trending Market = Continuations, Reversals & new Ranges
• Bulls have control into a triple measured-move at new all-time highs.
• The strength of this recent move suggests buyers will be looking for entries on the next pullback with the goal of retesting the highs.
• Sellers need to wait for either (a) exhaustion at these highs, or (b) a change in momentum with a 123-Reversal move.

Top 3 Trades for Tomorrow: 

• UP – buy the 123-breakout (or) sell the 2-try failure
• DOWN – Buy the seller failure (or) sell the 123-Reversal
• SIDEWAYS – wait for the new range, then buy support levels below it.

E-Mini Nasdaq (NQ):

Nasdaq Keys to Success:

• Range Market = Failures, Rotation & Breakouts
• Bullish into a trading-range tells us that buyers will be looking for entries at support levels below the range, or after a breakout on strength to new highs.
• Sellers need to wait for a change in momentum or signs of exhaustion at these highs before they can commit short.

Top 3 Trades for Tomorrow: 

• UP – buy the 2-Try breakout (or) sell the 2-try failure
• DOWN – buy the seller failure (or) sell the 123-Reversal
• SIDEWAYS – avoid the middle of the range, wait to buy support levels below it.

Gold Futures (GC):

Gold Keys to Success:

• Trending Market = Continuations, Reversals & new Ranges
• Strong move lower gives sellers a breakout of this morning’s range and enough momentum to suggest we retest the lows tomorrow morning.
• Sellers will be looking for shorts going back to retest the lows and a measured-move target.
• Buyers have a great opportunity to run back up into the range, but we don’t have enough change in momentum to warrant getting in yet because of that strong move lower earlier in the day.

Top 3 Trades for Tomorrow: 

• UP – buy the 123-Reversal & buy the 2-try trap
• DOWN – sell the buyer failure (or) buy the 2-try failure off the lows
• SIDEWAYS – sit on hands and wait for a breakout