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Obviously, you should start your profile wherever makes the most sense to you, and many days, there is a pickup of activity in ES at and after 8:30 ET, which could be reason enough to start there. This is not the "pit" open, by the way. When there was a pit, which there has not been for several years, it opened at 9:30 ET, simply because that was when the NYSE stocks began trading, and that was when activity in futures based on NYSE indices picked up.
As to why 8:30 matters, there are often scheduled news announcements at 8:30 and when they are important (inflation, employment or other economic information, etc.) they can influence the markets. There is also often a volume and a price volatility increase beginning at 8:30 on non-news days, for whatever reason. But the big volume explosion is at the NYSE open at 9:30, even on news days.
This chart is for 3/28/24, which had the scheduled announcements of US Unemployment Claims and Quarter to Quarter Final GDP at 8:30. There is boost in volume at 8:30 and a big price spike (and reversal), both of which are typical of reactions to news events. and then somewhat elevated volume until a runup before 9:30 and a big spike at 9:30:
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This chart is on a randomly-picked non-news day,3/22. It has moderately increased volume after about 7:40 or so, possibly due to that big price move down, and then slightly elevated volume until the 9:30 area again: Nothing unusual at 8:30.
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Here is 3/27, a non-news day with not much happening prior to 9:30:
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Picking a few days and looking at them does not prove much of anything, of course, and it's not meant to, but they do illustrate a typical effect of news on days when it happens. I try to look at the 8:30+ market just in case, and you can check a few news sites for scheduled releases. For example, https://us.econoday.com/byweek?cust=us or https://www.forexfactory.com/calendar.
My personal guess is that people who are trading in the period beginning 8:30 may be looking to get a jump on the NYSE open even on non-news days, and since they are in the market at that time, their volume can matter. My only point is that while it can be noticeable, even important on some days, it is generally not huge.
Your choice, actually.
Bob.
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Edit: not to mention that we just went through the rollover of the March contract last week, and the EU and US Daylight Saving times were out of whack. So trading may have been non-typical anyway.
When one door closes, another opens.
-- Cervantes, Don Quixote
Thank you, Sir, that is correct! I'm on MST and done by 2pm my time. Yes, indeed a typo on my part. I have created my own templates in NT8 using the MST time zone to avoid the time zones confusion of NY (EST) and Chicago (CST) vs my place of residence.
I see you're located in UK, and we may simply have an issue of getting the time zones right between different locations. Note that I am using, and referring to, US Eastern Time, which is an hour different from the CME exchange time zone (Central Time.) -- 8:30 in Chicago (CME location) is 9:30 in New York (NYSE location.)
It's late where I am (US East Coast -- now just after 12:30 AM ET) and I'm heading for bed, or I would look for volume numbers on the internet to nail them down. But I can tell you, as someone who is sitting at the screen most mornings, the volume in ES at 8:30 Eastern Time is never even close to the 9:30 volume, and has never been.
I think we have an issue with getting the time zones lined up, UK vs. US. Also note that the US has been on Daylight Saving Time for some weeks now, and I understand that UK and Europe only went on it this last weekend, which is always something that throws off these time synchronizations.
The differences in the times on these charts will resolve based on something related to getting the time zones lined up, I imagine.
Bob.
When one door closes, another opens.
-- Cervantes, Don Quixote
I'm in the UK. I've attached the last 2 days to show volume at 13.30 and 14.30. Now the Summer Time adjustment happened last weekend, 14.30 is US Cash Open (or RTH Open).
I've never seen 13.30 volume greater than 14.30
13.30 is important as a lot of the US data/numbers are released at that time, so you can see a volume increase at that time. I think Thursday is the next important release at 13.30.
Did I see elsewhere you are working in the Middle East, maybe theres a time zone issue thats not been adjusted.
