how many solely trade the eminis from 9:30-10:30am or 3-4pm or time is no factor?...what is your time "zone" to trade?...is it all day?...just 2 different half hour blocks or etc....just as it applies to daytrading the eminis (ES, NQ etc.)
I perfer to concentrate on 2-4pm EST. Most of the trading during this time is strickly institutional.
from 0935 est until roughly 1530 est, lately the ending of the day matters, but i pass after 1600 for sure. I mean come on.........Why not be at least available all of the pit time during the day?Bad enough globex has been good swings lately and have the discipline to NOT trade that in MOST cases. (sometimes if not sleeping i will get up and take a peek. I consider it a great job to work what used to be called bankers hours and have opportunity to make a dam good days pay, weekends off, holidays off and if desired any day off. best day ever was $$ .. GUESS
For the methodology which I subscribe to - the markets pace and the traders skill level determine this: The markets pace is determined as volume per unit time. This concept is illustrated in the following link: http://elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=1034264&highlight=price+volume#post1034264 Given this information a trader would determine his/her skill level and determine when (i.e. timeframe) the highest money velocity potential occurs. This concept is illustrated here: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=1430256 Best wishes on your journey
We become traders for the money and lifestyle freedom it offers. Too many people become tape addicts along the way, and find themselves consumed by charts and price action. The "juice" becomes more important than desire for freedom which attracted them to trading in the first place. We trade for money. Money is freedom and freedom is time spent doing the things we would do if more money were no longer a consideration in our lives. Trading eminis from 8am est thru 11am est and 2pm est thru 4pm est offers more than enough profit potential for everyone. Heck, one or the other of those timeslots would be enough. Once we graduate from the awe and allure of "emini nintendo" into a professional realm of max profits in min time, enjoying time away from the screens becomes more important than screen time itself. Once you reach that point in your career, you clearly understand the difference
I typically trade the first 90 minutes and the last 90 minutes. I will trade lunch if there is a signal, but my methodology involves fading. Lunch time fades as you probably already know are typically very low probability.
i typically trade (or wait for a set-up) the whole time, but i tend to make most of my money in the first 90 min. this is not always the case, but usually so.
only the first 1.5-2 hours for me. i would trade the first 2 and last 2 hrs but in brisbane, the market opens at 12:30am local time.