The first 30 minutes of the day (9.30 - 10 a.m.) were allways considered really dangerous. What do proprietary firms in general think about trading in the first 30 minutes? And you fellow traders: Do you avoid the first 30 minutes in general or exploit totaly? Lojze
Most of the money is made during the first 30 minutes and the last hour of the day...this is where the Opening strategies kick in, where you can do "post opening" sector trading....all the "easier" stuff. After a while in the morning, the market settles down and the opportunities become fewer. Most of our people then turn to pairs trading or some other more advanced strategy mid day. Don
Most of the time , High and Low of Day are set during the first 30 minutes, good for buying and selling (stocks hold overnight) . A trend reversal by 9:40 to 9:50 approx. is a big help too.
Doing "crutch pairs" or M&A during the day is working well. Intraday movement based on std. deviations from volatility moves seems to be woring well. Basic RS and momentum are still viable, but to a lesser degree mid day. Don
I have always found that the greatest opportunities of the day are always found during the first hour of trading. Once this is behind us, the rest of the day gets slower and slower, followed by a moderate pick up in activity at the close. If I miss trading the open, I can count on my daily profits being cut in half. -Eric
Lojze...the first hour of trading is one of the most profitable time period of the trading day. With that said...I don't recommend any newbie trader to trade such period because it's difficult for new traders to have a decent trading plan for such...too many trade it without one high probability trade setup. In other words...I've seen new traders to the Eminis loose most of their money at a faster rate trading the open (first hour of trading). Therefore, it's a time period when newbies get their money taken by the experience traders. This time period is sometimes called Amatuer Hour. Lots of successful traders trade the first hour and when its over...so is their trading day (they make their profit and spend the rest of the day doing something else productive). Also...I completely agree with EricP statement: "If I miss trading the open, I can count on my daily profits being cut in half." NihabaAshi
I think the pendulum swings both ways in the first hour...And, perhaps, that is the reason the volatility is greatest in the first hour...I find the best opens, as far as potential to exploit, occur the further you open from the previous close(either up or down)...The unchanged opens from the previous closes typically are the most dangerous as it takes alot of chop in the first 15-30 minutes to create enough of a bias one way or the other prior to the "thrust" which occurs sometime between 10-10:30(ET)... Either way, it can be very dangerous to trade the opens if u are not prepared...The whimsical trades in the first 15-30 minutes, oftentimes, will not give you a good margin for error if you are not committed to that trade...Likewise, if you catch it right, especially positioned on the right side prior to a gap fill or an economic number you can get a quick sudden move away from your entry, and many times the Swing High(Swing Low) will be made off of that price bar...