Best Time to Trade in PST

[vk2205 10]

I live in pacific time zone, US.

About 7 to 10:30pm PST is my trading time. What are the best futures or forex to trade in this time frame? I need high trade rate and volume

 

thanks

[diablo272 10]

Pretty much anything, those are prime NY hours, except you should probably start closer to 6AM PST since most US markets open at 6 or 6:30 PST.

[ryounkin 10]

I trade the YM (Dow e-mini future) from 6:30 to 8:30. I often quit by 7:30. I find that I am most profitable before 7:30 and often give a lot back if I keep trading.

[Frostyx7 10]

Pretty much anything, those are prime NY hours, except you should probably start closer to 6AM PST since most US markets open at 6 or 6:30 PST.

 

I agree. Even if you don't like to enter trades when volume starts to pick up. I think it's good to take a look price action.

[vk2205 10]

thanks for the replies

Remember guys I said PM. Not AM.

This is after I get back from work

 

I can think of JPY or AUD, but any other suggestions? thanks again

[diablo272 10]

Oops, I didn't notice that. Then you might want to take a look at some Asian indices, such as Nikkei, HSI, or KOSPI. Also European contracts such as FESX or FDAX. The Asian ones will be closer to the time you specified. I've recently become interested in HSI (Hang Seng), and the futures contract starts at 18:45 PST, though the cash market opens at 19:00, 15 minutes later. There are several good threads here on pretty much every market I listed above where you can get more info.

[robertm 10]

Oops, I didn't notice that. Then you might want to take a look at some Asian indices, such as Nikkei, HSI, or KOSPI. Also European contracts such as FESX or FDAX. The Asian ones will be closer to the time you specified. I've recently become interested in HSI (Hang Seng), and the futures contract starts at 18:45 PST, though the cash market opens at 19:00, 15 minutes later. There are several good threads here on pretty much every market I listed above where you can get more info.

 

The problem with a lot of Asian indices is they simply follow the US and don't show much independent thought at that time of the day. FX market is also dead as the Asian session is pretty quite, you could use an indicator setup & limit order system similar to what Raghee Horner advocates perhaps to catch moves as the European FX session starts just towards the end of your trading bracket, but it's longer time frames so not very frequent (which isn't to say it isn't profitable still).

 

You could catch the end of day ASX equities/sectors markets which are good to trade, but without access to CFD's you can't really take advantage of those instruments. You'd have perfect timing for trading ASX intraday but it's not as lively as the US intraday markets (many moves are made at the open reacting to the overnight US action). Likewise ASX options market is pretty lame as it's all about CFD trading now. On the bright side AUD is going up which would boost your returns.

 

I find that the period you are looking to trade is my dead zone, I sleep during those exact hours & start trading just as you would be finishing :-/, one of the reasons I've never traded from the West coast.

[sevensa 10]

The problem with a lot of Asian indices is they simply follow the US and don't show much independent thought at that time of the day.

 

Why is that a problem for trading?

[robertm 10]

Why is that a problem for trading?

 

Because if you want high frequency intraday trading the futures contracts will make their move in the Asian overnight session as it reacts to the US futures contracts. So you may as well be trading the leading instrument in that case at the same point in time.

 

It's no to say there aren't opportunities available if you are patient, you just can't force a system onto a market that it's not suited to just to fit your trading hours.

[Tams 20]

I don't see many asian traders are suffering

[robertm 10]

I don't see many asian traders are suffering

 

It's a brilliant place to live/trade from time zone wise, and one of my favorite markets, but if you were to rely on ONLY the Asian session to trade you are cutting out all the best moves on the FX markets, the US Options market, and if you can't get a CFD account you aren't able to reap the same rewards as being based outside North America.

 

Any high frequency system is best coupled with a steady longer term system anyway, market conditions permitting

[Tams 20]

It's a brilliant place to live/trade from time zone wise, and one of my favorite markets, but if you were to rely on ONLY the Asian session to trade you are cutting out all the best moves on the FX markets, the US Options market, and if you can't get a CFD account you aren't able to reap the same rewards as being based outside North America.

 

Any high frequency system is best coupled with a steady longer term system anyway, market conditions permitting

 

 

I think you are diverging into an area that nobody has treaded on before...

it is very fascinating reading your discoveries.

please tell us more.

Edited October 7, 2009 by Tams

[robertm 10]

I think you are diverging into an area that nobody has treaded on before...

it is very fascinating reading your discoveries.

please tell us more.

 

XAO today was a good example, 2% move reacting to US the previous night, but during the actual Asian session there wasn't much of that 2% you could get your hands on by the time you allow for setup, and a target or trailing stop. Of course there are always days outside of this but it's such a boring time of the day to sit in front of a screen. The US market rarely looks like this, far more volatile intraday allowing for the possibility to trade it.

 

There's plenty of money to be made trading end of day strategies anyway, which is how I built my account to allow for more active trading free of a full time job (FX & Futures weren't so popular back then). Intraday is just far more engaging & entertaining

[sevensa 10]

Because if you want high frequency intraday trading the futures contracts will make their move in the Asian overnight session as it reacts to the US futures contracts. So you may as well be trading the leading instrument in that case at the same point in time.

 

It's no to say there aren't opportunities available if you are patient, you just can't force a system onto a market that it's not suited to just to fit your trading hours.

 

So you are saying that someone should rather trade the US futures during night time in the US instead of the asian markets during their regular trading hours? So all the people creating all that volume on the asian markets during Asian regular trading hours should stop wasting their time and start trading the dead nightly US markets with its thin volume during that time?

[Tams 20]

most people do not aware of the enormity of the asian market.

 

just to give you an idea, the computer system at the Hong Kong Exchange is larger than the one at NYSE.

 

 

 

.

Edited October 7, 2009 by Tams

[robertm 10]

So you are saying that someone should rather trade the US futures during night time in the US instead of the asian markets during their regular trading hours? So all the people creating all that volume on the asian markets during Asian regular trading hours should stop wasting their time and start trading the dead nightly US markets with its thin volume during that time?

 

As I said, that is my dead time for trading (US night), no volume or moves you can really play until Europe opens (about 10:30 Pacific time, as this thread is discussing).

 

There will always be a market to trade, that doesn't mean it's the best place to be risking your capital. "high frequency" traders in Asia are trading FX or Indices in the Europe/US timeframe for the most part. I'm fortunate that I can travel/trade anywhere in the world, and I've done it on all the big continents now, what sessions you trade is a function of who you are.

 

I moved to Miami to focus on S&P's, but then had to get up at 2am to catch the European session, and I'm NOT a morning person, thus i moved to a timezone in Asia that suited my preference to roll out of bed at midday & catch the end of the Asian market, the European session, the start of the US session & the close of most Commods. Climate wise it's also perfect as i love the heat and don't notice the humidity (I'm in the constant summer part of Asia). A morning person would hate this though as they would miss whatever it is people do when I am fast asleep. I've been through the whole adapting short term trading around a work schedule etc, it sucks.

 

Certainly there are active markets though, I trade several Asian markets, just not with high frequency short term systems as they are not as well suited to this as other markets. You can adapt a system over just about any instrument if you study it long enough to find your edge. The bigger issue is if that is the best use of your risk capital for the time/effort you put in and the returns it can generate.

 

Frequency alone does not = profitability :missy:

[Tams 20]

if there's a method, there's a way...