NQ — week of September 7 – 11, 2026: LongE-mini Nasdaq-100 FuturesCME_MINI:NQ1!GekkquantLAST WEEK: "bid 29,022, out on a daily settle under 28,946, first door 29,545, paid at the lid 29,811–29,887." The bid filled Tuesday. Wednesday undercut the shelf by 19 points and settled 240 above it. Thursday printed 29,545 and Friday settled 29,565: +543 points on the bid. A print stop at 28,946 would have lost 152 on those 19 points; the settle rule was the whole trade. THE SETUP Long — from the step, not from up here. The weekly is a hammer boxed under the summer roof: a 613-point tail, a 25-point body, the 10-year at its highest since 2023, a hike 61% priced — and it would not go down. The daily says why the step is the level: Friday's jobs print should have hurt most; the tape tried for 5 hours, and the low it found joined 2 August lows inside 67 points on this week's pivot. The shelf's buyers now pay 470 more. The plan is on the chart: bid 29,436, out on a daily settle under 29,274, first door 29,704, paid at the lid 29,811–29,871. One number all week: 29,811 — the lid, where the long is sold; settle over it and the lid is the floor, 30,062 next. THE CATALYSTS (CT) Mon 7 — Labor Day: futures close 12:00 CT, cash shut. The overnight high is a number, not a verdict. Tue 8 — No Tier-1 data. September's opening full-desk session — the volume comes back and votes on the box. Wed 9 — Apple's launch event 12:00 CT, the 10-year auction 12:01 CT: the index's biggest weight and the rates story, 1 minute apart. Thu 10 — PPI and claims 07:30 CT, the 30-year auction 12:01 CT; Oracle and Adobe after the close — the AI-capex bill and the software-margin question. Fri 11 — CPI 07:30 CT, sentiment 09:00 CT. Fed in blackout — the last word before the 16th: a cool core unpins the hike and the lid; a hot print sends the box to its floor. BOTTOM LINE The box has swallowed the highest 10-year since 2023, a $91 barrel and a payroll print 3x the forecast, and its floor keeps rising — that is the tell, and I take it. My bid sits on the step at 29,436, not up at the lid where the last 3 rallies ended; the lid is where the position gets sold, 29,811–29,871. A daily settle under 29,274 and the step was scenery, not a floor — the trade is dead there, and the next conversation starts at the shelf. Not advice — trade your own plan.