Understanding the Market’s Psychology for Day Traders
Trading with the following in mind is crucial to being a successful day trader.
Understanding The Market Requires You To Understand Market Psychology
Stock market intraday patterns – all times are in Eastern Standard Time!
When day trading the US stock market you may notice certain patterns, based on the time of day, that occur more often than not. These patterns, or tendencies, happen often enough for professional day traders to base their trading around them.
9:30am: The stock market opens, and there is an initial push in one direction. Highly volatile!
9:45am: The initial push often sees a significant reversal or pullback. This is often just a short-term shift, and then the original trending direction re-asserts itself.
10:00am: If the trend that began at 9:30am is still happening, it will often be challenged around this time. This tends to be another time where there is a significant reversal or pullback.
11:15am-11:30am: The market is heading into lunch hour, and London is getting ready to close. This is when volatility will typically die out for a few hours, but often the daily high or low will be tested around this time. European traders will usually close out positions or accumulate a position before they finish for the day. Whether the highs or lows are tested or not, the markets tend to ‘drift’ for the next hour or more.
11:45am-1:30pm: This is lunch time in New York, plus a bit of a time buffer. Usually, this is the quietest time of the day, and often, day traders like to avoid it.
1:30pm-2:00pm: If the lunch hour was calm, then expect a breakout of the range established during lunch hour. Often, the market will try to move in the direction it was trading in before the lunch hour doldrums set in.
2:00pm-2:45pm: The close is getting closer, and many traders are trading with the trend thinking it will continue into close. That may happen, but expect some sharp reversals around this time, because on the flip side, man traders are quicker to take profits or move their trailing stop losses closer to the current price.
3:00pm-3:30pm: These are big “Shake-out” points, in that they will force many traders out of their positions. If a reversal of the prior trend occurs around this time, then the price is likely to move very strongly in the opposite direction. Even if the prior trend does sustain itself through these periods, expect some quick and sizable counter-trend moves.
As a day trader, its best to be nimble and not get tied into one position or direction. Many traders only trade the first hour and the last hour of every day, as these times are the most volatile.
3:30pm-4:00pm: The market closes at 4pm. After that, the liquidity dries up in nearly all stocks and ETFs, except for the very active ones. It’s common to close all positions a minute or more before the closing bell, unless you have orders placed to close your position on a closing auction or “cross”.
💰Wasnt sure where the “tips for day trading” event is or i wouldve posted this there. 🍻 @moomoo Event @moomoo Lily
Hope this provides some clarity to the workd of daytrading!
$Energy Focus (EFOI.US)$
Understanding The Market Requires You To Understand Market Psychology
Stock market intraday patterns – all times are in Eastern Standard Time!
When day trading the US stock market you may notice certain patterns, based on the time of day, that occur more often than not. These patterns, or tendencies, happen often enough for professional day traders to base their trading around them.
9:30am: The stock market opens, and there is an initial push in one direction. Highly volatile!
9:45am: The initial push often sees a significant reversal or pullback. This is often just a short-term shift, and then the original trending direction re-asserts itself.
10:00am: If the trend that began at 9:30am is still happening, it will often be challenged around this time. This tends to be another time where there is a significant reversal or pullback.
11:15am-11:30am: The market is heading into lunch hour, and London is getting ready to close. This is when volatility will typically die out for a few hours, but often the daily high or low will be tested around this time. European traders will usually close out positions or accumulate a position before they finish for the day. Whether the highs or lows are tested or not, the markets tend to ‘drift’ for the next hour or more.
11:45am-1:30pm: This is lunch time in New York, plus a bit of a time buffer. Usually, this is the quietest time of the day, and often, day traders like to avoid it.
1:30pm-2:00pm: If the lunch hour was calm, then expect a breakout of the range established during lunch hour. Often, the market will try to move in the direction it was trading in before the lunch hour doldrums set in.
2:00pm-2:45pm: The close is getting closer, and many traders are trading with the trend thinking it will continue into close. That may happen, but expect some sharp reversals around this time, because on the flip side, man traders are quicker to take profits or move their trailing stop losses closer to the current price.
3:00pm-3:30pm: These are big “Shake-out” points, in that they will force many traders out of their positions. If a reversal of the prior trend occurs around this time, then the price is likely to move very strongly in the opposite direction. Even if the prior trend does sustain itself through these periods, expect some quick and sizable counter-trend moves.
As a day trader, its best to be nimble and not get tied into one position or direction. Many traders only trade the first hour and the last hour of every day, as these times are the most volatile.
3:30pm-4:00pm: The market closes at 4pm. After that, the liquidity dries up in nearly all stocks and ETFs, except for the very active ones. It’s common to close all positions a minute or more before the closing bell, unless you have orders placed to close your position on a closing auction or “cross”.
💰Wasnt sure where the “tips for day trading” event is or i wouldve posted this there. 🍻 @moomoo Event @moomoo Lily
Hope this provides some clarity to the workd of daytrading!
$Energy Focus (EFOI.US)$
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Sean L : Very good observation. Helpful as a guide. Thanks a lot
Horfub : V tokkong
FearGreed : Helpful for understanding intraday patterns.