YEP, the 50% retrace is a nice clue to read the mkts. On one-way days when the ES is strong a good clue to watch is a retrace. ok, if you get a leg up or down and see mkt go into consolidation as they reload the cannons and the locals get squared up you are looking for price to stay 50% or less retrace, any more and your mind tells you a possible reversal could be coming.
On particularly strong one-way days (read long or short) and you get a nice run then you book the profits and want back in you might not get a 50% retrace before the bigs push it again. in a case like that it is a good idea to take a "HOOK" (price moves up or below the previous high or low by one tick). that is always subjective because if you jump back in to early you might be caught in the retrace not completed yet. in that case your STOP would be if price indeed moves below the 50% area.
Myself, i hate to miss a second or third leg knowing the odds say the mkt is going to move in a NORMAL 3 legged one-way day. BUT, at the same time i dislike chasing a mkt without a normal retrace. chasing a mkt is a rookie mistake because the NORMAL retrace is not understood.
As i like to say an Army can not advance to far ahead of the supply of ammo and food. The Army must rest and regroup, rearm and then get ready for another advance. ...
ok, done for tonight. Thks
PS, apex, ER2 had a range today of 11 1/2, ES had a range of 9 3/4 give or take a tick. No big difference. Do not be confused by ER2 being a $100 a handle relative to es at 50 a handle. It looks good, but again the fills slippage will nail a trader sooner or later. ER2 is to thin for daytraders to jump in and out. FWIW