Do you trade the first ten minutes?

TrueProp · May 1, 2009

I absolutely trade the first ten minutes as well as the first 2 hours of the day! There are plenty of different types of opportunities.

NYC212 · May 1, 2009

I like to sit out the first 5-8 minutes on a swing trade or an all day trade.

seems one can get smashed as the specialist moves the stock too much too fast when they open it

TrueProp · May 1, 2009

Quote from NYC212:

I like to sit out the first 5-8 minutes on a swing trade or an all day trade.

seems one can get smashed as the specialist moves the stock too much too fast when they open it
More...

Wow.

NYC212 · May 2, 2009

Quote from TrueProp:

Wow.
More...

I skip out the first few minures for swing trades or an all day trade. I want to take out the bad fill out of my trade. (worried about the gaps when Im going to be holding a stock for a bit longer)

BUT I do trade the opening as far as a prop opg trading strategy though

gigsup · May 2, 2009

Quote from Eight:

I typically get run over multiple times in the first ten minutes.. today [sim] I was down $350, only got back to net positive after an hour or so... I've looked at several ways to try to cope with that time of day and really never found anything yet that could do it short of some high speed automation ideas...

I talked to a guy that traded stocks in a prop shop in the 90's, he said they were trained to not trade the first ten minutes, I'm thinking that is a good idea. Some don't trade the first half hour, I don't find that to be a good idea at all but that first ten, maybe even fifteen minutes is a killer for me. Is anyone here staying aside for the open like that?
More...

The professionals call it "amatuer " hour.

MohdSalleh · May 2, 2009

Quote from jack hershey:

There are two aspects of the open which must be considered.

1. Yesterday

2. The premium

Consideration of yesterday.

I check out about 32 items. I call it a preflight check. By knowing what is going on in terms of "how the market works", you get a thorough context. By filling in the blanks on the sheet, I have to look to where to get the value, do the calc's and write, with a ball point, the value entry after entry which brings me right up to preopen housekeeping.

There is also the day's upcoming new information in the form of standard reports, etc. I have quantification of their effect on what I trade and it moslty relates to the cascading levels and how many will occur as the IB close out accounts. The best and most significant cascading was 27FEB a while back. reading the stalls was intersting but most of all reading the DOM's level of imbalance and lack of orders was fantastic as a statement. I camtasia'ed the whole nine yards and did a voice over for the archives.

The Premium.

Information provided by the interrelationship of the cash and the index is priceless. The premium is calculated and its directional offset is in itself a wonderful indicator.

The considerations include:

1. How long it is out of whack during the open.

2. The damping mode (3) of how the vanishing point is reached

Then you come to "reading the premium" after this synchronization ends the random walk and chaos theory applications.

3. Volatility compression and expansion begin to play as a record of smart money leading the herd.

4. Drift enters the picture and it drives a lot of bots and algos

5. Leading indications of high velocity trader trends

6. Sustaining indications of trends.

7. Strength of trends.

8. Trend ends and trend reversals

9. Non trending

10. IB's taking small traders out of the market as they blow out (cascading).

For reporting and planned news there is another series of reads, mostly known combos of the above.

Reading premium is one of the best leading indicators of price. It rates as high as the leading indications of price turns on the DOM which come into view 5 ticks off the BBID/BAsk pair. Ir rates with reading pair shifts on the OTR tick charts or reading PRV on volume Gaussians of leading markets of the market where price is traded.

More...

damn ur going insane

LexNY · May 2, 2009

Amatuers the openning, Pros do the closing.

larrybf · May 2, 2009

I

monty21 · May 2, 2009

I don't mind trading 3 minutes after the open... you just have to trade small lots and scalp. I have no problem trading the heavy volume stocks such as JPM, MS, BAC, but tend to avoid the stuff like BK, MET, PRU especially when they trade with a 5 cent spread and volume is relatively low. NEVER CALL TOPS IN MET or PRU... TRUST ME

Although the market tends to be chaotic or sideways, I wouldn't advise calling a top or bottom in the first 30 minutes of trading. Certainly don't add to a losing position either... it's not the time to scale in. I found its all about scalping at this time and not position trading. Remember that the European session finishes at 10:00am EST, so the international arbs may contribute to the volatility. Some important economic releases also hit the market till 10:30am.

I would not recommend trading the first 30 seconds off the open though... sometimes the NYSE specialists could execute a order and you could get really hurt, or lucky... its just gambling.

If it matters, I've only traded on the Lightspeed platform which has great execution. Maybe that's why I feel comfortable trading shortly after the open. I know the majority of traders here use Interactive Brokers and I don't know how well they execute orders.

monty21 · May 2, 2009

Quote from LexNY:

Amatuers the openning, Pros do the closing.
More...

Yes, large institutions such as hedge funds and mutual funds, trade the close when they want to unload or buy the sh!t out of something.

But many "professional" day traders are aggressive off the open. It's the best time to get small profits on high volume stocks. It depends with your style I guess. For scalpers, why waste this opportunity? End of day is usually for momentum and position traders.