Hey, I currently work full-time, but am also trying to day trade. This is a skill I'd like to have as something to fall back on (the IT job market isn't the greatest). So, I would like to trade every day or almost every day. What's a good time frame to trade if I can only devote one hour during market hours to trading? Ofcourse, this is aside from time spent outside market hours to research stocks....this 1 hour is strictly for trading. So, what 1-hour period would you recommend? Thanks for your help!
Between the opening bell and 11.30.. Why.. 1) Most market movers know which stocks they want to move before the bell, 2) Most of the move is over by lunch time 3) Afternoon trading is only worth while after news or the market is very HOT in one direction from the mornings activity. If you cant make money on this advice GIVE UP ! Good Luck
anymore, she starts freaking out before 11:30. Unless volume is strong, I'm over it before the first hour is up. So what am I doing sitting here now....:eek:
If you are doing well the first half hour than stick to it. I find the first 20 minutes or so hairy, and only trade during this time when fading gaps. The next hour or so is the best in my opinion. the close is usually pretty good too. Jay
8:30 AM - 3:00 PM CST Why?: 1) Because the markets are open 2) Because the markets are not closed nitro
Agreed. While you may not have time for this, tracking the performance of your preferred method by various metrics, including the time of entry, will pay big dividends. Certain trend-dependent strategies, for example, seem to do best (extent of move, probability of a win) if the entries are triggered during a fairly limited window in the morning or another in the afternoon. Conversely, certain strategies designed for weak trend environments seem to have different optimal times. Tracking -- or backtesting -- allows you to see these patterns, especially if over hundreds of instances of the setup.