Market Profile for Non-index Futures

[Pepperdog 10]

I'm mostly an ES trader, and only recently gotten into Market Profile and so far I really like what I am seeing. I'm still a relative noob, but it seems to be a fantastic way to see the bigger picture.

 

Anyhow, I also watch some other futures contracts, mostly the EuroFX (EC/6E). I'd like to setup my TPO chart for this contract, but I am not quite sure how to define the open and close times?

 

CME lists the floor session times as 7:20 AM to 2:00 PM central time. Should I set my TPO chart to these times? Should I split the chart for afterhours outside these times and RTH for these times? Should I just run a 24-hour chart??

 

Thanks for any wisdom/advice anyone can provide!

 

J

[sdoma 10]

This depends. Do you want to divide the sessions according to the domicile market in the cash, which the futures track? Or do you want to divide it so the American session is isolated?

 

For example, the center of the forex market is generally considered to be London. The London markets open up at 2am CST and close at 10am CST.

 

Or you could use the Eurex's European fixed income derivatives (the Bund, etc) since currencies are also an interest rate driven product, and Europe is the home of the Euro (surprised, eh?). I believe that the Bund opens at 1am CST but this could be different since we just had a the time change.

 

The trading day in the United States generally starts up at 7:20am CST for fixed income and 8:30am for the stock market, so you can see how your divisions might differ depending on where you thought it logical to center it.

 

To be quite honest, I don't think there's one right way to center it. Markets have grown so interdependent that some people, including Steidlmayer, have begun to go away from dividing sessions according to time periods. While I don't believe in doing this, I can see their point.

 

If I were you I'd try all of these ways. See if something makes the chart pop for you. In the end, market profile is all about context and isn't all that dogmatic. It's all what you get from it.