Trading Room RECAP 2.18.26

🎯 @ES — Cycle Day 2 Game Plan

Pivot: 6855 ±5

🟢 Bull Case — Buyers in Control

Acceptance above 6855 unlocked:

  • 6875 ✔️

  • 6885 ✔️

  • 6895 ✔️ (FULFILLED EARLY)

Targets hit. Inventory distributed.
And just like that… the rhythm shifts.


⏱ Early MATD Behavior

Once 6895 printed, the character changed.

  • Momentum stalled

  • Buyers exhausted

  • Volatility elevated (VIX expiration at 9:30 ET)

  • Gamma levels in play

  • Hedge wall looming at 6900 SPX

Cycle Day 2 doesn’t need to trend all day.
It needs to complete its objectives.

And once fulfilled… the market often rotates.


🔄 1:30 PM Key Bear Shift

Right on schedule.

Internals deteriorated.
Premiums rolled.
A4 structure paid.

The afternoon session evolved into what can only be described as:

A controlled demolition.

Back toward prior highs.
Midpoint VWAP magnet into the close.
MOC Buy Imbalance $1B provided late stabilization.

That’s structural behavior — not emotional noise.


🏆 Open Range TRIFECTA

All Open Range plays closed.
Winning day.
Aligned with dominant direction.

That’s not prediction.

That’s preparation meeting structure.


🧠 PTG Principle of the Day

The key is to ALWAYS STAY ALIGNED with the dominant direction.

Not your bias.
Not your opinion.
Not the Fed Minutes headline.

Structure first. Always.


🎓 Probability Thinking in Action

As discussed in PTG University — Module 2:

We are not trading certainty.
We are trading managed uncertainty.

Follow rules → Silence inner critic → Execute cleanly.

That’s professional behavior.

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