Just wondering if anyone here trades ym or es during the premarket hours from 4am to open. I am a college senior and have some intraday experience but it seems the premarkets hours are easier to trade due to the lack of competition over price. Any thoughts?
I have before, but don't anymore. Before the exchanges open, trading is thin. Most of the stocks aren't trading and the cash indexes aren't being updated. Not enough to work with, IMO, but if it is working for you, go for it.
I trade ES during the premarket hours, 3am EST tends to be the best time, it can be very lucarative if you know how to manage your risk. I suggest you put up a chart and watch the market for few months, get it know its mood and range during premarket hours then go for it.
YM (and ES) are VERY THIN at that time of morning. In the case of YM, a single-digit number of contracts can and does move the market. That said, I agree with Mandlebrot... look to Europe. I prefer the FESX; same increment as YM (1 tick = 1 pt), but each tick is 10EUR, or approximately $15US after conversion. Daily volume is roughly the same as ES. In other words, highly liquid. Between 12 and 1pm EST Europe winds down and trading starts to thin. Another nicety is many brokerages provide reduced intraday margin, which kicks in between 8 and 9am EST; depends on the broker however. One more nicety... AT WORST round trip all-in is comparable to ES. Frankly, IMO, if you pay that much you are paying too much! A few questions to be asked of YOUR broker... how is currency conversion handled? Are there associated currency conversion fees? Is value credited/debited in real time? Is the value official or interim? When is an official conversion price determined? Good trading
yep ES prior to the floor opening can be good. there is less chop. Actually the ES should have a health warning for ES traders during pit hours. Pit traders will try and take your money by constanltly causing false chart signals, mainly breakouts. hard stops will be near the most adverse price before they chop it back toward you. The pit only loses control of the price when external price influences are strong enough to overcome their games. when the pit is open ES traders cannot see the market, we only see as if through a dark glass, the real market is in the nuances of the signals and relationships between the floor traders. pit should go the way of the horse drawn cart.
I agree that the pre hours outside of the news reporting times can offer a great deal of less choppy, more trending opportunity. Worth looking at. That's my opinion.