I have finally come to the conclusion that I do trade better after 10:00 AM. I see a better chance of profit when I see the dayâs trend, analyze and evaluate the strength of the trend and then decide if I want to go with it or against it. So I was just wondering if any of you guys had the same story and has any of you decided not to pull the trigger in the morning. If you are just a system trader, I understand that you should take the trade no matter when, My question is more for the Non system traders...
The best time for me is around 1:00 to 2:00 pm and into the close. These late afternoon trends have just been too easy. A month or two ago it was easier to take a position in the morning when the trend starts (mostly from the short side) but lately there have been too many reversals in the morning.
How do you pick your stock for afternoon sessions? Is Stock picking for afternoon different to morning?
It depends on ones style. I don't trade until I have a trend so I'm not there for the first few bars. I'll leave that to others.
Same, do you use scanners to monitor moving stock or just add and wait and see approach? btw we're in the same timezonish. What time do you get up!
I usually do the uptrend trades in the morning and short the downtrends in the afternoon because of profit taking.
i usually trade after 9:40 but by 10,the stock usually developes its personality as i like to say. trading the open gets traders whipsawed and alot of money can be lost at the open.
Most orders gets filled at the opening so I tends to stay away until around 9:45 unless if I know for certain the stock will go up. I don't like to trade inside the channel during the lunch time since the risks are too high.
The first 20-30 minutes establish an initial high and low for the day (a personality as NY_HOOD puts it). You can then compare these points to the previous day's highs and lows, and the longer term S/R levels and use this info to your benefit because usually the first two pivots of the morning are the strongest moves of the day for traders who work shorter time frames. These first two pivots generally take place within the first 2 hours of the day. The whipsaws that occur in the first 15 minutes can work to your benefit if you already have a trading plan for a specific stock. For example, if you planned in advance to short a stock, throw out a crazy high offer on open and more often than not the opening volatility will get you filled at a much better price than you planned for. I've found the opening volatility works well for exiting overnight positions at a better price, too, if that was your original plan. The last hour of the day is generally strong for continuation break outs/break downs (institutional investors favor the last hour), and reversals (profit taking). I've found the time in between these more volatile periods to be nice for range trading because very often a stock will stagnate between a narrow and predictable S/R range and you can take small profits several times.