I trade over the news, not holding i will add but after, out by 9:30 as it gets abit random for 15mins idiot time, 9:45 direction gets picked jump on that. 90mins on good trading, then it slows down usually, picks back up 15:00 into the close. If there is big news at 3pm then market is generally flat all day into, wait till after the news.
It really on where you're located and/or what times you're available to trade. Regardless, just find a useful online financial market international calendar...it will tell you key times of schedule market events. Also, find a site that list the opening/closure of other key exchanges that's interconnected with whatever you're trading. Further, you can do some stats work of about a few years to determine why your trading instrument tends to be active (volatile) and less active (low volatility)...helpful to determine when you should be trading or outside going for a walk. Another use of stats is your own historical performance results (simulator or real money) about when you tend to be profitable and not profitable...that will yield info about when you should be trading or not trading. For example, if you tend to be profitable in the morning and losing in the afternoon...you now know to ignore the afternoon trading session unless you enjoy losing money and/or have a thick head that prevents you from turning off your computer when the afternoon trading session begins. Even with all the above, it won't be enough on about 25% of the trading days each month. Trading ranges will develop or the type of price action that doesn't generate any trading oportunities for you... That's when you just setup some trendlines with audio or email alert to notify you when the price action has broken the trendline. Its not to be used as a trade signal. Instead, use it as an alert that you need to return to your computer or mobile device to view the price action to see if a trade opportunity shows up soon. wrbtrader
I don't generally trade intra-day but for last few weeks I'm trialling London Opening Range Breakouts on indices, forex and a few commodities. Fits with my life-style as I'm in the UK anyway so no getting up in the wee small hours! I'm using the 0700-0800 bar as my range and entering bracket orders at high and low of this, with SL at mid-point of range, TP at entry plus 1 x range' worth of profit, so r:r on each initial trade is 1:2. If one of the bracket orders is triggered, I leave the opposite order in place as a secondary in case of failed B/O, but delete the TP and re-set the SL to the extreme of the range rather than mid-point. I'm using very small positions while gathering info. Some general conclusions are - * initial B/O's between (stock market opens) 0800 and 0900 are very common * about half the primary B/O's fall back to the mid-point of the set-up range before they make the TP * almost all failed B/O's which make the mid-point SL will continue to travel and breach the opposite extreme of the range (triggering the secondary trade) * some secondary trades make dramatic progress for the remainder of the session in the opposite direction to the initial B/O * USD-related trades often have late B/O's - 1200-1400, but are usually before NY opens (1430 UK time) and otherwise go on to behave as above Looking forward to more trialling this from tomorrow. Mind how you go.
All are Central Times: Emini’s 1) 8:30 to 8:55 More moves equals more risk but good time for experienced traders. If not experienced at trading it is probably best to refrain from trading during this time as the market duringthis time excesses in buying/selling pressures tend to manifest. Tiwards the end of the period the market settles in for the day. This time period is a risky time but $$ can be made. The forces of the pre-market orders are being played out during this time. Can be some violent jerking around as MM’s and institutions position themselves for profit. Novices can take a position and minutes or seconds later find themselves stopped out with a loss. 2) 9:55 to 9:15 open orders have been dispensed with by now. Many times a trend will start in this period based upon more realistic supply and demand but be cognizant that the trend can start with a reversal. That is in the previous time period there may have been a rally that now reverses and continues down during this period. Or there may have been a decline in the earlier time period that now reverses during this time period and a bull rally starts. This time period is usually more settled down and not so violent and knee-jerking. For intraday trading on a 5 min TF a 2 legged or even 3 legged moves up or down within a range may appear and they may appear in a range that is forming, or a trend that is begining. So depending on where one entry was made a trader may try to hold for a 2 legged move. 3) 9:15 to 9:35 generally a good period for a novice trader. The direction usually runs counter to the direction of the opening period (period 1). If prices did in fact contain a reversal during period two then that reversal will tend to continue in the direction of the period 2 reversal until near the end of period 3. Near its end look for a possible reversal AGAIN. That is, if it trended down look for a possible long entry near the end of this third period. If the trend has been up during this period look for a possible shorting opportunity near it’s end. (By trend i mean a trend but I also mean a trend within a morning range). These entries are often low risk entries entries IF a reversal does indeed take place near the end of this period. 9:30/9:35 to 9:45 there tends to be a sort of pause in the market. Sometimes a strong reversal can take place during this time period after the pause. If you are long the market is at the high end during this time period it may best to exit during this pause time. If one is short and the market is near the end of this time, is near the low of the time period, then may be best to exit during the pause. Unless the market gives indications otherwise. However, if no reversal is forthcoming get ready to jump back in the direction of your previous position which you exited out of during the pause. Will post more later. The markets are filled with uncertainty so none of the above can become a prescription for entries and exits but are a description of tendencies that the market appears to show from time to time. A trader still has to have a strategy and an understanding of how to read price action and how apply their strategy within the unfolding PA.
Amateurs open the market & the pros close it. By mid day trends that appear can go parabolic during the last 2 hours. An hour before the close the bond market closes, many of these traders turn to other markets to trade - which is a major reason the last hour is intense. This stock trade from Friday is a good example & setups like this appear on most days - big volume breakouts, highly directional. The last 2 hours is where the range & volume increased sharply, climbing 65%.
Some like to trade end of session. I prefer to trade early session. Occassionally, when there is major news / events , I'd trade 24x7.
I like your post Mr. Volpri, but methinks you have a typo there. I think you meant 8:55 to 9:15. Otherwise we're dong time-travel and shit, which is beyond our abilities at this time. That would be best served in the "WTF" section which Baron has not yet constructed. Hehe!
yes it was a typo. I was visiting someone and chatting while typing...thanks for pointing it out. Should be 8:55 to 9:15.
CENTRAL TIME Period 5 9:30/9:35 to 10:15/10:20 Market tends to slow down and trade in the direction of third period. So look at third period and see what happened. These are just tendencies...remember. Will post more later.