The 9 EMA Strategy

What the 9 EMA actually tells you

On a 2m chart, the 9 EMA tracks roughly the last 18 minutes of pace. When price keeps closing on one side of it, supply is being repriced consistently in that direction. When price starts closing on both sides of it, the move has stopped being fed and you are back in balance.

The continuation setup

1. Filter first: price above VWAP and above the 9 EMA for longs (mirror for shorts). If those two disagree, no trade.
2. Entry trigger: a pullback that touches the 9 EMA and closes back above it without closing below VWAP. The candle that closes back above the 9 EMA is your entry.
3. Stop: hard stop below the pullback low, or below VWAP — whichever is closer. If VWAP is far away, the pullback low is your risk.
4. Target: the prior swing high, then the balance-zone edge. Scale a third at 1R.
5. Risk sizing: 1% of account, contracts derived from stop distance.
6. Invalidation: a close below VWAP, or two consecutive closes below the 9 EMA. The move is no longer being fed — exit on the read, not on a trailing stop.

When the 9 EMA is useless

• Inside a tight balance zone — price crosses it constantly and every cross is noise.
• In the first 10 minutes of the session, before enough bars exist for it to mean anything.
• Around scheduled news, where pace resets instantly.

Chart setup

Session VWAP plus the 9 EMA on a 2m chart, with prior-day high/low and the overnight balance zone marked. Two lines and two levels. If you need more than that to decide, the trade is not there.