Session Analysis & Tape Footprint

Hey folks, Thursday, September 10, 2026. Yesterday's range gave us our dealing range on MNQU6, and we opened this session with a large down gap off the settlement -- an expansion kind of day, not a slow grind. My bearish lean coming in was informed by that gap, but I wasn't chasing it. I wanted to see how price actually behaved once it got moving before committing to anything. And when the market's already expanded that much overnight, the protocol is to slow down -- you don't chase an open that's already moved.

Now, the thing I care about first thing in the morning, before anything else: the 1st presented fair value gap. This is the checkpoint -- no trades before it closes, no anticipating it, you let the market show you its hand. Today's printed bullish, and the sequencing told the story on its own -- it left this imbalance behind right after the market had already gone and grabbed the liquidity it needed. That's the market declaring intent, not hesitating. Both sides got tested for liquidity -- sell-side stops below the zone, buy-side stops above it both got run and closed right back inside. That's exactly why you don't chase a level the first time price touches it. Most retail traders see a wick like that and panic out, or worse, chase a breakout that isn't real. This is where you sit on your hands and let the algorithm finish its business. The zone got closed through briefly and looked like it was breaking, then reclaimed right back -- that's a stop run, not a real break, and it told you exactly which side was still in control. And that's exactly why the level mattered: once it held, price ran hard to the upside for the rest of the session, no real hesitation along the way. That defense of the zone was the launch point for the entire day's move.