If you really want to trade at night from the US, and you better really understand what this will do to you mentally and physically, you should be trading the FOREX. Learn this and trade the London session. Things start to heat up around 2 AM EST. This is not for the weak of heart, but you can make money. The London session is actually preferred because it is somewhat more predictable without the US spikes. I did it for a year. I'm an old man, could not take it. Started hallucinating at night.
I would point out that you can trade the Asian session also, basically, starts early evening, around 6:30 - on. The movement is usually slow, not always though, it is kinda like lunchtime here in the US. Go to www.metaquotes.net. Download there charting program which provides a free data feed and demo account. Decent software for the right price, $0.
Hey Trader5287! I tend to trade the US markets during my local night and the US pre-open as well as the Aussie SPI during my local afternoon. I generally sleep between 6-7am to ~11/12am my time, if I sleep at all. Quite often I don't have regular sleeping patterns, although I know I should. However, more important than a fixed sleeping time is a fixed amount of sleep. Less than 5 hours simply doesn't work. I catnap to compensate. Often I, just like you, fall asleep during a trade - But tend to set alert triggers on the significant levels and already have a physical stop & trail-stop in place with my broker (I use FT - www.futures-trader.net). That way, if the alert trigger doesn't wake me, I just get stopped out with a smaller gain or just a small loss. I know this doesn't sound like a very productive trading regimen, but if you manage to trade the markets 24/7 like this, it can be quite lucrative. Also, you'd be surprised how much more fun "day trading" can be if you just put up a trade, set your stops and go for a nap until your target is met. It's like "fast-forward" or a timemachine LOL This just applies for more action-oriented traders like me, anyway. Most of the time, I'm too impatient (and risk averse) to day-trade, so I scalp (futures). When you're scalping, you tend to stay awake (caffeine accelerates heartrate, but scalping does, too) Winston Churchill, for example, never slept a full night. He was known to work all day and night, while having between 5 and 8 half-hour 'cat-naps' per day. He said he was always refreshed and at the peak of his productivity. He also never exercised. After all, he was successful in his endeavours to kick the squareheads' asses (pardon to my ancestors) etc, so he is to be respected. Since he rarely left his bedroom, it is said about him that "He ruled an empire from his bed"... Anyway, just thought I'd note that here. By the way, my day here in Western Australia is EST+12h. Please read some interesting details on this earlier thread regarding this: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20103&highlight=globex+glories Yours Sincerely, ~The Scientist
Just wanted to thank you for your informative replies. I've looked at nite trading for some time now as an interesting source of revenue and hope to give it a try in the near future. Best of luck to all of you in your endeavors. Eaglemount
Hello, Lots of great information,does anyone know of a active chatroom that trades these after hours futures markets, where one could go to watch and learn to trade the overseas markets. Thanks
Me too, might be nice to chat and trade on those sleepless nights. Michael B. P.S. Lets start our own here?
Use the et chatroom, I will log in at 2-3 am est but I am in London! You will probably not learn much from my trading!