As we head into the final 2-hours of the trading session, the /NQ 11700ish support level that was taken out earlier today has been recovered following the brief dip below, albeit by a relatively small & “not comfortable” margin, so far. This recovery back above that key level that I was looking for earlier after the breakdown is bullish as long as the Nasdaq 100 futures hold above that level (and Friday’s low) with the next buy signal, and a potentially very powerful one at that, still to come on a break above 12086. Of course, a lot can & probably will happen in the final two hours of trading today so active traders should stay nimble & adapt/adjust positioning if/as the charts dictate.

NQ 60m 2 May 24th

NQ 60m 2 May 24th

As of now, it’s still anyone’s game (bulls or bears). At the risk of oversimplifying things, the bulls win if they can take out 12085 & the bears win if they can take out Friday’s low. Of course, it won’t help the bullish case if /NQ drops back much below 11700 from here, now that it’s been recovered following the brief dip below. Holding my index longs, for now, along with the precious metals & Treasury bond longs which are currently acting as the “risk-off” hedges that they have historically, especially now that the US Dollar has broken down which has been & should continue to provide a tailwind for the precious metals.

I’d also like to see a pop above today’s previous reaction highs in both SPY/ES as well as QQQ/NQ that both put in around 12:15 EST today as that would likely usher in a late-session rally. Updated 60-minute chart of /NQ above.