It rises and it falls, only to open flat the next day. Unecessary stress or somehow useful? (P.S. This is not directed towards futures traders, for obvious reasons)
Trust me it doesn't always close and then open at the same level again the next day. There are times when the European session has a huge impact on the open and not much is done during equity RTH.
Almost all of these futures markets are now open 24 hours. However, many are still influenced by the trading times of the old pit trading hours. A few options on futures are still pit traded or maintain limited trading hours (not 24 hours). This is why you see certain 24 hour futures markets maintain low volume until its corresponding options market opens up. Like another poster said, the U.S. markets like the ES are influenced by Europe overnight but the real moves and volume still happen during the NYSE RTH Open.
I would never make it through the night without a check on global mkts. And they're *all* global... By the US cash open, I've been up and re-sharpening on the latest (noise) for hours. "No surprises."
There is a study shows that if you discount after hours movements the sp500 technically didnt move much , most of the trends are in the after hours .
Both, ES chart (1 week, hourly) always on, and several markets on my watchlist. I don't even trade daily anymore but definetely check ES and a bunch of markets as well as single stocks many many times a day and night, either on computer or smartphone. Could spend my time in a more productive way, no doubt about it.
I check the futures only when going through my market addiction cycle. with experience this addiction is dying a naturally fast death.