Introduction
CPI days are some of my favorite to trade. The volatility can make it tricky, especially for newer traders, but if you come in with a plan, the opportunities are massive. Today I went one for two on my setups, took a small loss first, then caught a big win that made the day. Let’s break it down.
The First Trade: Taking a Loss
Going into the session, I was watching all-time highs as a key level. At 8:30, we ran close to that level and rejected, which gave me a long idea later in the morning. On the five-minute, price set up a retracement and then an IFVG play to the upside. I got long around 19,767, stop below the recent low, targeting back to all-time highs.
It looked clean, but news shook the market. Around 9:45, Trump tweeted about suing Powell over rate hikes, and the market dumped. That stopped me out quickly. Losses happen—it was short-term pain but ended up giving me a better setup later.
The Second Trade: A Cleaner Long
The key setup came right at 10:00. On the hourly and 15-minute charts, we had new fair value gaps form, and displacement suggested strength to the upside. ES was stronger than NQ, but NQ gave the better risk-to-reward.
On the one-minute, price displaced sharply higher after running a low. I got long around 717 with a stop just below. The target was back to all-time highs, and the trade delivered—about a 2.5R move, worth 122 points.
Trade Management
I held through some consolidation into the 11:00 hourly open, where the move really accelerated. Normally, if ES runs a high before NQ, I’ll consider trimming NQ just in case of divergence. But today NQ was close enough to all-time highs that I held full size. That decision paid off.
Results and Takeaways
Loss on the first trade.
Win on the second trade worth about 2.5R.
Net result: $20,000 across all funded accounts plus my personal trading account.
CPI days require wider stops and strong conviction. Sometimes you’ll take a loss, but staying disciplined allows you to catch the bigger move.
Final Thoughts
Overall, it was a very strong day. For the rest of the week, my plan is to scale back, look only for A+ setups, and protect capital. If you want to see these trades live, I stream daily on My Funded TV from 9–10 a.m. and in my Discord community afterward.