I dont trade after 11:30 but I do monitor the market looking for some type of playable pattern. So far I havent found anything. It does appear to me, though, that there is some manipulation going on. It seems to me that the big players love this afternoon chop. When price gets down to the lower range area they come in buying and hold the price up. The little people come in, get all excited and run the price back up to the top of the range where the big players unload and the price drops like a lead balloon. Is this just my imagination?
I have level 2 on the ES. It looks like all the moves start with market orders of 500 contracts or more. Maybe the hedge funds are sitting on their hands until the Iraq situation is cleared up. I took a short at 91500 when it broke below the noise. Lookin like some afternoon delight.
Prices on issues that are up in the mornings often slump around lunch time, EST and sometimes rise in the afternoon, sometimes not, if they rise in the afternoon it's a pretty good sign they will gap up the following day. I haven't scientifically researched that but it seems like it's been like that for years. Max