I didn't trade the NQ on Friday, but did trade the ES. After pulling up an NQ chart (see attached) - 5 minute, I noticed a striking similarity to the ES during the same time frame. The NQ annotations where obviously made in hindsight, but I actually traded those same points in ES. Certainly, you observed the price bounce of the NQ off the daily support level (drawn in automatically by Qcharts) in real time in your own charting software? While in real time, I had no way of knowing in advance price would form a nice looking pennant formation, I did, in real time, take the breakout trade (on higher volume) which occurred on the sixth bar (Again, in ES - not NQ). My three trades prior to the breakout resulted in washes. I cannot speak to how the NQ market operates, but with ES, I often observe the market returning to the entry point, as if to ask, "Are you sure?" I have used this opportunity to 'double check' the data set used to make my entry decisions, and if I notice a change (contrary to what I had previously anticipated) I exit. I believe Jack has termed this phenomenon, "What wasn't that?" or a "Flaw" when "sweeping" the input parameters, but I cannot say for sure if I have the vocabulary correct. Following the "Are you sure?" metric for bars 2 - 4 of the ES on Friday provided the three 'wash trades' previously mentioned. Whereas, when no 'flaw' appeared on bar six, the trade netted +2.0 points (again ES - not NQ).
I hope that helps.
- Spydertrader
Edit: I intentionally left out the obvious short immediately at the open (confirmed by the MACD and Stochastics divergence on high volume) as shown by the attached NQ chart. On the ES, price remained within the previous day channel, and did not show a 'break out' to the downside.