SP500 E mini Review Feb 18 2026: Bull Spike and Channel, Trading Range Then Midday Reversal

Hey everybody, I hope everyone is doing well and had a good day. And thank you for joining me

good day. And thank you for joining me for today's end of day review of the E- Mini 5m minute chart for Wednesday,

February 18th, 2026.

Daily chart just quickly higher time frame context going into the day. Market

is in a trading range. Lots of

overlapping bars. Swing down, swing up, goes to a lower low, higher high. So

maybe expanding triangle. We have three, four pushes down to support. Expectation

is a reversal back up and a test of the highs, but bare breakout here. may find

resistance at the 50% pullback. So maybe somewhere in this area.

It's a trading range. So traders are buying low, selling high, and they're scalping. So maybe there's initially

scalping. So maybe there's initially buyers above the high of yesterday, buyers on the close of yesterday, but

the upside may be limited because it's a trading range. So traders may get one R,

trading range. So traders may get one R, one times their risk if they buy the close, but as soon as you get one R of the bar,

you're back in the sell zone, testing breakout points and other resistance.

Okay, for the five minute chart, whenever there's a small gap like this, I tend to just continue to use [clears throat] the RTH chart. Doesn't

really matter. Not that it doesn't matter, but the GlobeEx chart, you know, it's going to be a trading range because the gap going into the day is from the

close of bar 81 to the open of bar one.

So, it's a very small gap up going into the day. You can assume the market was

the day. You can assume the market was sideways. And if we're going to just

sideways. And if we're going to just infer that it's a trading range, we can just use the RTH chart as if it's a continuous chart. So, the

most recent information that I see here, we have a rally, a pullback, maybe a 50% pullback, and then we might be getting a second leg up. It's very likely we test

the high of yesterday.

If you look at any chart, most bars are breakout bars. Most bars go above the

breakout bars. Most bars go above the high or below the low of the prior bar.

in the daily chart. I mean, it doesn't matter if it's a daily chart or a five minute chart. The price action behavior

minute chart. The price action behavior is the same.

So, very likely we test well, very likely we either test yesterday's high or yesterday's low. But with the momentum here, looks like a minor

reversal turning back up. And the fact that we're much closer to yesterday's high than yesterday's low tells me it's more likely we're going here.

Trading range bar, bar one, overlapping bars one and two. This might be a couple of legs up. So we have the bull breakout. Sort of an endless pullback

breakout. Sort of an endless pullback here. strong enough selloff for a second

here. strong enough selloff for a second leg becomes a tight trading range and then we get a bull breakout, a pause, a second push up,

another pause implied pullback and then a third push up to bar three. So that's

three pushes up one two three to resistance yesterday's high. We may find

some resistance here as far as, you know, just looking at the channel line here, the fact that we

found sellers here and it led to this really decent sell-off. There's probably

going to be some hesitation here, at least a pause, if not a reversal back down, but parabolic wedge through here.

Strong enough breakout for a second leg up. So, expectation minor reversal, a

up. So, expectation minor reversal, a test down, but then a second leg up.

So, we see selling on bar four, pretty strong bare breakout bar, but lots of overlap. It's completely above the

overlap. It's completely above the moving average. So, it's testing

moving average. So, it's testing support. Maybe it's a 50% pullback of

support. Maybe it's a 50% pullback of the rally.

So, 50% pullback moving average. Three

is a bad stop order sell. Probably

buyers below expectation here. Four

really needs one more bar and it's probably not going to get it. Traders

will actually buy here because it's a 50% pullback of the rally and it's testing support. The probability is that

testing support. The probability is that this rally will get a minor reversal and then a second leg up.

So four reverses right back up on bar five with a bull breakout bar testing the highs. So what about selling here? Is it a second leg trap one

here? Is it a second leg trap one pullback two at resistance? It might be.

And yes, bar four is strong enough that it's probably going to get a second leg.

But the reversal on bar five was so strong that any trader who sold on bar four, it looks like they're trapped on bar five and they may just desperate to

exit the trade and maybe look to sell higher.

So breakout follow through five and six.

Six testing that channel line again.

Most of the time breakouts of channel lines fail. They reverse and then we

lines fail. They reverse and then we test the trend line. So we'll see what happens here. breakout, follow through

happens here. breakout, follow through and more follow through. So, a really strong rally bars five, six, and seven.

Breaking above the channel line probably resetting the leg count.

So, second leg up likely and first reversal very likely to be minor. It's

always in long buy for any reason. And

use the correct stop. Use a wide stop. A

stop below seven would be a skunk stop.

Probably buyers below bar seven.

minor reversal probably buyers below bar eight the high one we get the pullback and test highs but now there's sellers above we've entered the channel phase we had a

breakout we pulled back and now we are in the channel phase of the market cycle so traders will buy below bars and then

sell at a new high so still minor reversal below bar 10 more likely so traders will probably buy below bar 10

and scale in reversal follow-through probably enough for a small second leg sideways to down but still a minor reversal. So traders

selling here are scalping and both can stay long.

So reversal follow through pullback second leg down 13. Now you have two legs down against a strong breakout and testing support. So 13 probably buyers

testing support. So 13 probably buyers in this area and then 14 a bull breakout bar. You can call it a high two. It's

bar. You can call it a high two. It's

nested high one high two and then the two legs down here. High one high two.

Maybe it's a high two bull flag. So

reasonable to buy bar 14. If you're short, if you are short for any reason, you should have scalped out or you need to be quick

to exit as bar 14 turns up or just get out above 14. Your options here are to be flat or to be long. So, always in

long above bar 14. We never went always in short.

Although, there was a brief scalp signal for the bears.

We'll get follow through, but it's weak and we're finding sellers at the high.

As expected in the channel phase, we pull back, test the high, find sellers, pull back, find buyers, test the high, find sellers.

Still nothing to sell here. If you're a price action trader trading breakouts and second legs, there's no bare breakout signal for you to sell here.

So, it's still always in long, buy the close, buy for any reason. 16 minor

reversal likely, buyers below.

18. Still minor reversal more likely buyers below and then bare reversal bar on bar 20.

Now you count it's a late leg or or a late push but it's still more likely to be a minor reversal.

However, since we have three maybe four pushes up, there may be a correction underway starting with this bare reversal bar. It's a strong enough bar

reversal bar. It's a strong enough bar that would certainly trap the traders buying at the high. The traders who bought at the high are trapped and they're

probably disappointed with their entry and on any test of the high, they'll probably look to sell. Second leg down after bar 20 likely, but again, still

more likely to be a minor reversal. So,

if you're long, you don't have to panic out of longs here, but I think it's reasonable to exit longs below 20 and wait to buy a pullback because a second

leg down is likely. So, reversal

pullback bears getting a second leg, another breakout bar, possible second leg down likely, but it is already two or three pushes down.

There are magnets below the moving average and bar 13 close are in about the same area here. It's possible we have to test lower. But if we do get here, like I said, it's more likely a

minor reversal, which means the channel may evolve into a trading range, but it's unlikely to reverse into an

opposite trend, a bare trend.

Reasonable buy above bar 23. You can buy the close, you can buy a pullback, you can call it a high, too, but we're still sort of more in the middle or upper third. And it depends on

how you look at this. There's a bull trend line here. So, testing support.

It's a tight bull channel. The trend

line and channel line are fairly close together. Legs are only one bar. You

together. Legs are only one bar. You

know, one leg down here, pull back, another leg down here. So, legs are just one or two bars. So, we know it's a tight channel. It's still a breakout on

tight channel. It's still a breakout on a higher time frame and more reasonable to trade in the direction of the tight channel. So,

reasonable buy 23.

24 a pullback, but also a third push down one pullback two pullback three.

So, 24 probably buyers below and more of a by the close bar because a test of the highs is likely. We're at support. We've

had three pushes down and it looks like a minor reversal.

25 breaking out but tail above finding resistance at the highs.

We mentioned if you if a trader bought at the high. So say they bought on a stop order at the high of bar 18 during bar 20. They're disappointed with their

bar 20. They're disappointed with their entry bar. And you can see the reaction

entry bar. And you can see the reaction there on the retest. We found sellers.

We're testing it again. We're finding

sellers. So, it looks like the market is really evolving into a trading range here. It's

still a channel at this point. We're

getting higher lows and higher highs.

The question is, how disappointed are the bulls? Are they going to continue to

the bulls? Are they going to continue to buy here and break out to a new high or is this a trading range where traders are starting to buy low and sell high?

The bull's having a hard time getting much higher.

Tight trading range through here.

Bears getting a breakout. Tight channel.

Two-legged pullback. Second leg down.

But testing near support now. So

possible second leg trap. One pullback.

Two near support. Strong enough for a second leg. But the pullback can be

second leg. But the pullback can be deep.

So a four bar micro channel but right at support. Not ideal for selling. You can

support. Not ideal for selling. You can

also infer on a lower time frame chart.

This is a channel. The tails on the bars tell you there's pullbacks along the way. Sell off, pull back, sell off, pull

way. Sell off, pull back, sell off, pull back, sell off, pull back. Maybe four

pushes down to bar 30. It is a tight channel on the smaller time frame. But

the fact that it's possibly a second leg trap near support means yes, it's strong enough for a second leg, but the pullback could be deep to the upper

third of the range.

So, finding support, strong breakout bar, 31 outside up, reasonable buy for a second leg by the close and scale in.

And it looks like bulls immediately got a measured move up, one pullback, two strong enough breakout for a second leg, but this is all minor.

Big down, big up. We're at the top of the range. So, buying here no longer

the range. So, buying here no longer ideal. There was a quick scalp. If you

ideal. There was a quick scalp. If you

bought, you scalp out. Maybe look to buy again on a pullback. This is a strong enough breakout and follow-through for a second leg.

The bears who sold down here are trapped and they're going to use any pullback they can get to try to avoid a loss.

And that might be what happened on bar 33 here. The bears, they sell, scale in,

33 here. The bears, they sell, scale in, and they exit around their average entry price.

tight trading range. Bull breakout high one. Second leg down. One pullback too.

one. Second leg down. One pullback too.

Probably buyers here and here. Breakout

points.

So we broke out above bar 30 breakout follow through. Tested that breakout

follow through. Tested that breakout point on 33. Found buyers. Testing it

again. 37

with a second leg down. One pullback

two. Probably buyers in this area.

Now we have three pushes. One pullback

to pause three. So three legs down to support. Bull breakout strong enough for

support. Bull breakout strong enough for a second leg. Has not had the second leg yet. Probably test near the high of the

yet. Probably test near the high of the range again. But we've gone sideways for

range again. But we've gone sideways for enough bars through here. We've gone

sideways for about 30 bars. So

breakout direction is probably very close to 50/50.

When you have maybe less than 15 bars in the trading range, you can still think of it as a minor reversal and in this case a bull flag. But the more bars that

get added to the trading range, the more balanced the market becomes and then breakouts become,

I guess you could say, more controlling.

There's a trading range structure through here and we can get a bull breakout or a bare breakout. And because we went sideways

breakout. And because we went sideways for 30 bars, the effect that this breakout has on this trading range is

losing its control or its power. In

other words, there's enough sideways through here that we can get a reversal down.

Also, thinking about day structure, is today a strong bull trend day? It had

potential. It could have been trend from the open bull trend day through here.

even through here. But eventually, I think especially getting this sell-off is a warning that it's more likely some kind of a trading range day. And

when you think about the higher time frame context, again, you have to wonder if the traders who bought on the daily chart are scalping out. You know, did we

reach one R? We can see that actually from the low of yesterday to the close and the bulls had about 7R

on the t on the daily chart here. One

pull back two.

So, three pushes down to support.

Bulls getting their second leg. One

complex pullback two, but probably sellers in this area. So, bull breakout bar 41, but at resistance in a trading range. So, not ideal for buying bulls

range. So, not ideal for buying bulls probably taking profits in this area. If

you're long, you got to be quick to get out.

42. A reasonable stop order sell. It's a

double top at the top of a trading range. We're at resistance

range. We're at resistance and the bulls are failing to break out.

Also, this bare breakout still may need a second leg. Looks like this could be a complex two-legged pullback before the

bears get another leg down.

43 trying to break out to a new high but big tail on the bar showing that there are sellers into the close of the bar.

So one pullback two like subdivided into one pause two.

So resistance in this area, reasonable to take profits on longs and reasonable to look to go short. 43 is a sell reversal bar. Even though it closed

reversal bar. Even though it closed above its open, it closed below midpoint. So it's a reversal bar that

midpoint. So it's a reversal bar that some traders will sell below.

Bad high one, top of a trading range.

sellers above 44, sellers above 45, and then kind of just drifting down because traders are not interested in

buying up here. We're at the top of a trading range. We've had two legs up and

trading range. We've had two legs up and it's a fractal or a nested two legs, one pullback, two, one, pull back, two. So

bulls are exhausted and they no longer want to buy up here. They want to buy value below the average price. They want

to buy near support.

So bare reversal and follow through 46 47 the breakout strong enough for a second leg down. We'll probably test support down here. And like I said, this

micro channel may be getting a complex pullback and then a delayed second leg.

Looks like a sell vacuum test of support, but nothing to buy. Remember,

if you are a breakout trader, if you're trading price action based on breakouts, where is the bull breakout for you to

look to buy and capture a second leg through here? The last one was probably

through here? The last one was probably this bull breakout and follow through, pull back, second leg. Even here,

breakout, pull back, second leg. But at

this point, there's really no bull breakout to buy. There is a higher time frame argument, bull breakout. All of

this a minor reversal and then you're looking for a big second leg up. But

like I said, we're now about 40 bars into this trading range. So breakout

direction is 50/50.

Now we have a four bar micro channel.

Sellers above 49 likely. Second leg down likely.

51 possible measuring gap. You can count two or three legs down. Maybe it's one, pull back two, but very tight bare channel. Second leg down likely. It's

channel. Second leg down likely. It's

always in short. Sell the to close.

52 testing the breakout point finding sellers lower price is likely.

And then 53.

You can certainly count three pushes down, but it's a it's really a parabolic wedge, which is a breakout on a higher time frame. You

can see the wedge more clearly on the lower time frame. The problem with looking to buy here, the buying pressure is weak along the

way. You know, there's no

way. You know, there's no where are the big strong bull bars closing near their highs? They don't

exist through here.

So you know this is if you look at the 15minute chart this is a simple leg it's a bare breakout minor reversal likely sellers above and second leg down

likely. So yes it might correct because

likely. So yes it might correct because we have three pushes down but that correction is likely to be minor which means it may only be bar or two maybe

three. It's probably going to be a

three. It's probably going to be a relatively shallow pullback and then lead to trend resumption for the bears and a test of the lows. So sellers above

53 more likely 55. It looks like a good bullbar and it

55. It looks like a good bullbar and it is a good bull bar by itself, but the context not very good for buying. Why

not?

We had three legs down. So, minor

reversal expected. And we had that two-legged minor reversal from the low of 53.

Bull breakout, pullback, second leg up, and now we're testing the breakout points to the left. So, 55 is a second leg against a tight bare channel and

testing resistance. So, 55.

testing resistance. So, 55.

Bulls really need one more bar here. And

in this context, they're not likely to get it. So, a good-looking bar like 55

get it. So, a good-looking bar like 55 can actually be a signal for traders to go short. It's sort of like a second leg

go short. It's sort of like a second leg trap. One, pull back, two, but at

trap. One, pull back, two, but at resistance. And again, bare breakout

resistance. And again, bare breakout strong enough for a second leg down. And

this is all because of trapped traders.

The traders who were trading this like a trading range, they're buying at support. the bulls buying at this level.

support. the bulls buying at this level.

In theory, the bulls buy here, they make money, they buy, make money. Every time

the bulls buy here, the market rallies.

So, they're going to keep doing what they've been doing.

Traders buy at support, they get trapped on 51.

Brief test of that, what used to be support, and then becomes resistance.

Traders sell. So, what's going to happen on another test of that line? Well, it's

become resistance and a second leg down is likely. So, traders will probably

is likely. So, traders will probably sell here.

So, possible trend resumption 56 reasonable stop order sell below.

Bears getting trend resumption three bar micro channel second leg down likely.

Yes, it's at the bottom. You can call it a double bottom. But again, where is the strong bull breakout? You have 55. The

bulls have one decent bar. It's not even especially big. So, the the bulls are

especially big. So, the the bulls are really not getting the buying pressure they need for a double bottom reversal here. So, probably sellers above 58.

here. So, probably sellers above 58.

Minor reversal found sellers second leg down likely.

Also, as far as magnets to the left, yesterday's high is the blue horizontal line. You've also got the bar three low.

line. You've also got the bar three low.

Remember when the market fell below bar three, traders got trapped in this area.

So that becomes support and that's a magnet. So anywhere in this area could

magnet. So anywhere in this area could be tested today. And this is a tight air channel. There's no major reversal yet.

channel. There's no major reversal yet.

No trend line break that is strong enough to set up a major trend reversal for the bulls. So always in short, reasonable to sell.

Another micro channel for the bears, the tight channel continuing testing support. But again, just because

testing support. But again, just because the market is testing support, it's not enough reason to buy. It's better, in my opinion, higher probability

to wait for the bull breakout and look to capture that second leg. So through

here, there's no bull breakout signal to take.

So it's still always in short. We may

get a minor reversal at the support, but still tight channel. Second leg down likely. Lower price, lower prices still

likely. Lower price, lower prices still likely.

So, there's a bounce there at support, but is this a major reversal? No, of

course not. It's really on a lower time frame. A low two bare flag. Strong bare

frame. A low two bare flag. Strong bare

trend. First reversal attempt low one.

Second reversal attempt low two. And

then bears get trend resumption getting closer to that second layer of support the bar three low.

So finding support there as well. So now

we're testing near support. We're at the base of this strong bull breakout.

That's going to be more major support.

So the market may start to go more sideways through here with support being in this area. But still the bulls haven't done enough. The channel down is too tight. There's still sellers above

too tight. There's still sellers above and we'll still probably test a little bit lower.

Still 70. Not a very good double bottom.

So probably sellers above.

Same with 71. Now the one thing I will say about in this area we are at support.

You can count three legs down. It's

nested three legs down through here. So

you may get a correction maybe to spike pullback channel maybe to back up here maybe the moving average

but no bull breakout until there's a bull breakout so better to wait for that signal and we get a bull breakout on 73. A

little bit s surprising. It's a pretty big and strong bull breakout bar. Second

leg up likely. So trapped traders below by the closes. Okay. And with the option to scale in breakout follow-through higher price is likely.

It's a three bar micro channel. Probably

buyers below 75. It's testing resistance but the approach is too too strong to sell. This needs a second leg up before

sell. This needs a second leg up before we get a test back down. So until

there's a bare breakout signal, it's always in long.

So traders buy looking for measured move targets looking for resistance to the left. Remember bar 55 good looking bullb

left. Remember bar 55 good looking bullb bar trapped traders that should create a layer of resistance there. There's also

the breakout point here. So layers of resistance above also this one. So it's

all the same area.

So reaction to coming close to that resistance area and for the bulls volatility expansion volatility contraction volatility expansion. So,

it's kind of a tight leg one pullback leg two followed by profit taking probably a minor reversal test of the highs likely but too late in the day

really to be trading here.

So end of the day we get this bare breakout with a little more down to support bar 75 breakout point and the moving average

probably will bounce before probably bounce and test the highs before going much lower. But at that point there's probably resistance up here and we can come back down and test

the lows. This looks like a wide trade

the lows. This looks like a wide trade range. Big down big up.

range. Big down big up.

All right, that's going to be it for today's end of day review.

Thanks again for joining me for today's video and I hope everyone has a great night.