London mid-session futures were mixed ahead of New York, with S&P 500 futures above the central pivot (CP) and point of control (POC), Dow futures below CP, and Nasdaq futures below CP near lower-gate support.<\/p>\n
Dow (YM) levels were: upper range 50,360, CP 49,606, lower range 48,852, and POC 49,360. Gates were 49,784\u201350,000 (upper) and 49,428\u201349,208 (lower), with price at 49,548.<\/p>\n
YM rotated up from POC towards CP, leaving 49,606 as the main decision level. Holding above CP points to 49,784\u201350,000, while failure keeps focus on 49,428\u201349,208.<\/p>\n
S&P 500 (ES) levels were: upper range 7,010.00, CP 6,866.50, lower range 6,640.50, and POC 6,872.50. Gates were 6,909.75\u20136,936.50 (upper) and 6,803.25\u20136,753.50 (lower), with price at 6,905.75.<\/p>\n
ES stayed above CP and POC and moved into the upper half of the map. Holding CP targets 6,909.75\u20136,936.50, while losing CP shifts attention to 6,803.25\u20136,753.50.<\/p>\n
Nasdaq (MNQ\/ENQ) levels were: upper range 28,014.75, CP 25,514.25, lower range 23,434.00, and POC 24,848.00. Gates were 26,104.00\u201326,469.00 (upper) and 25,023.00\u201324,719.00 (lower), with price at 24,932.<\/p>\n
Nasdaq held above POC but stayed below CP near the lower gate, with selling pressure in recent rotation. A move above 25,514.25 opens 26,104\u201326,469, while weakness keeps focus on 25,023\u201324,719 and risks deeper rotation if that area breaks.<\/p>\n
For the New York open, focus was on acceptance or rejection at CP and gate zones, especially in the first 15\u201330 minutes. Strength improves if ES holds CP\/POC, YM takes 49,606, and Nasdaq holds the lower gate and rotates back towards CP.<\/p>\n
The market is showing a significant split, with the S&P 500 leading while the Nasdaq lags behind. This divergence tells us to be cautious, as conviction is not uniform across the board. We should avoid putting on large, one-sided directional bets until the indexes align.<\/p>\n
This kind of separation reminds us of the rotational market we saw in late 2025 when inflation fears re-emerged. With the January 2026 jobs report coming in stronger than expected at 215,000 jobs added, the Federal Reserve is unlikely to cut rates soon, which continues to put pressure on rate-sensitive tech stocks. This fundamental backdrop supports the current weakness we are seeing in the Nasdaq.<\/p>\n
For the S&P 500, the strategy is to trade from the long side as long as it holds above its key pivot at 6,866. We can use options by selling put spreads below this level to take advantage of its relative strength. However, if the S&P 500 loses this support, it would signal that the broader market is rolling over.<\/p>\n
Given the Nasdaq is the weakest index, we should be looking for it to fail at its pivot of 25,514. A failure to reclaim that level would be an opportunity to initiate short positions, perhaps by buying puts targeting a breakdown below the lower support gate near 24,719. A break there would confirm that downside momentum is increasing.<\/p>\n
The divergence between the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq makes a pairs trade attractive over the next few weeks. We can consider going long S&P 500 futures (ES) and short Nasdaq futures (NQ) to isolate their relative performance. This strategy could perform well if the current economic trends, with a VIX that has settled around a moderate 16.5, persist.<\/p>\n
The Dow is the deciding factor, currently stuck below its pivot at 49,606. We should treat it as being in a neutral range until it either reclaims that level to confirm strength or fails and follows the Nasdaq lower. Until then, it is best suited for short-term traders playing the defined range.<\/p>\n
In the immediate future, we must watch for either confirmation or failure of this divergence. If the Nasdaq firms up and the Dow reclaims its pivot, the market-wide rally can continue. If they remain weak and the S&P 500 loses its support, we should prepare for a broader defensive turn.<\/p>\n
Create your live VT Markets account<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0start trading<\/a>\u00a0now. <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" London futures mixed pre-New York: ES above CP\/POC, YM below CP, Nasdaq below CP near lower-gate support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":16986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-updates"],"acf":{"acf_article_selection_author":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}