At one time i felt the dead zone began after 11AM but since early 2002 the ES has consistently began having many nice size down moves beginning around 11:15 so i now have extended the dead zone to start at 11:40 am
Time of day is critical, but it goes far beyond avoiding the dead zone, which in fact contains a couple of important times. Watch your charts carefully and note when certain things seem to happen and see if you can establish a pattern. It doesn't have to happen 100% or even 50% of the time to give you an important edge.
The more I trade the more I see big reversals starting at 14:30 ish... I have found this very valuable. ~EC
AAAintheBeltway, critical indeed! I don't know exactly what you look at but I am convinced there's a lot of things going on in relation to time.
Time of Day is very important! For instance: What I've noticed over the last 10 years. 10am et. many economic numbers are released at this time that has major impact on the market. 10:20-10:30am et. usually a major program trade kicks in. 11:15-11:30am et. European markets are getting ready to close. 12:00-1:00pm et. Wall St. Lunch hour, if markets are moving, they will stall at this hour! 1:30pm et. usually the market will start moving at this time with big program trades. 2:15-2:30pm et. usually more activity is done in this time period, why? I really dont know why? it just happens with great frequency! 3:00- 3:10pm et. Bond futures close, last hour of trading starts. 3:40pm et closing order trade imbalances announced. 3:50pm et End of day buy/sell programs kick in for close. Well these are just some of the "time of day" happenings I've seen and experienced over the years. Good Luck!