The gap up and accelerate during the first 30 minutes of trade followed by an all day slow, sideways market, has a way of limiting day trade opportunities. During the May 5 session, the Nasdaq 100 futures, made a high in the first 30 minutes at 9:52 am EST, 22 minutes into the session, at a price of 28,112. The 4:00 pm EST closing price was 28,135.50. The point gain on the day was mostly overnight and during the first 22 minutes of the day session.
The last time the Nasdaq 100 index closed up on the day and NVDA closed down on the day was on October 20, 2025. The market then went "sideways" for six months. Can the market continue higher without NVDA leading the way?
The slow, docile, grind higher during the day session with very little movement intra-day, is my least favorite market environment as opportunities shift outside of the day session. These patterns have the tendency to be cyclical but tilted more during the night session lately.
Last night the market surged on earnings from Super Micro and then surged again on news related to the drop in the price of Crude Oil. Classical and traditional markets typically rally in advance and then sell on the news. We are seeing a market that rallies in advance and then rallies again on the news with most of the price action happening outside of the day session. There seems to be a great deal of euphoria right now.
Historically we haven't seen a market that moves straight up this long without more exhaustion/correction days. April 28 is the last time the market traded below its previous session's lows and only the 3rd time since April 7th.
The pre-market on May 6, is well off its overnight highs by almost 200 points but still up 300+ points on the session in the Nasdaq 100 futures. Sometimes we see Key Reversal patterns after this type of price action.
Hypothetical Trading System Signals on 05-05-2026
25 System Portfolio NQ = -$1,140
7 System Portfolio NQ = +$315
3 System Portfolio NQ = -$1,245
2 System Portfolio NQ = -$220
Stock Index Portfolio 18 = +$2,215
Diversified Portfolio 57 (NQ Only) = +$4,490
Silver Portfolio = -$1,650
50K Portfolio (Micros) = +$102 (without Gold and Silver)