I think I may have asked a similar question a fair while back, but it was probably not specifically targeted at very short term index traders. So, the question is: If you trade indexes fairly short-term, are there specific times of the day that you avoid as a matter of course? Or are you perhaps just more careful or stringent when you do enter during certain periods of the day.
I personally have limited experience and screen time w/ index futures but I've heard 11:45-1:45 is a good time to stay out because of chop and lower volume for lunch.
I trade the ES. I only trade 9:30 AM - 4:00 PM (all times Eastern), and I trade all day long. During periods of abnormally low Volume (Holidays, Half-days, Friday Midday in late August, 30 minutes before FOMC Announcements [you get the drift]), I often sit out waiting for conditions to normalize once again. So while 'time of day' doesn't 'factor' into my decision to trade or not, I do require Volume maintain a certain threshold before I choose to trade. - Spydertrader
I scalp and day trade the SPX using Pivot Points and simple MA's, but only at very specific reversal periods. Here is what I do: I usually enter a reversal between 10:00am to 10:30am and exit just before the market goes into its next reversal at 11:00am to 11:30am (which I may enter again). If the second reversal (11:00am to 11:30am) was entered, I usually exit before 1:00pm (All times are eastern time). I do not enter any trades in the PM hours of the trading day because I have found PM entries to be less reliable than AM entries.