I LOVE MY WORK!-best time to trade

[bullboy8]

Right…..don’t know how to ask this but I’ll give it a try

Currently I work 9-5 mon-fri like a lot of people . But, I’m getting a little fed up…I feel like I can’t do anything because when I finish business hours finish. I wish to do my banking, go post office, etc…but most importantly I want to start trading in shares. So, I am given the option to fiddle around with my time so that I only work 9-2 on one working day leaving me time to trade.

So, my question is….which day and at what time is it best to trade…..I thought Mondays would be good because it gives me time to read news articles and stuff over the weekends. On the other hand..a lot of bank holiday Mondays in the UK which result in a missed trading opportunity. On average I am expecting to exercise one trade a month. On which days is the LSE most volatile and most busy.

Would Friday (end of week) or the middle of the week be better for me? arethe hours between 2-5 a good time to trade? May you provide reasons for your choice..thanks

 

[Trader333]

Why not trade US stocks then you can trade every evening from 7pm to 9pm which is a good time to trade these markets ?


Paul

 

[timsk]

So, my question is….which day and at what time is it best to trade…..I thought Mondays would be good because it gives me time to read news articles and stuff over the weekends. On the other hand..a lot of bank holiday Mondays in the UK which result in a missed trading opportunity. On average I am expecting to exercise one trade a month. On which days is the LSE most volatile and most busy.

bullboy,
The start of your post reads as if you want to day trade the U.K. market one afternoon each week, but then you go on to say that you expect "to exercise one trade a month"? If it's the former, I think you're likely to have a frustrating time as Murphy's law dictates that your day to trade is the one day of the week that the market chops about in a very narrow range. (This assumes you don't like days like these.) On the other hand, if you're only proposing to do one trade per month, then this suggests a longer time scale, trading E.O.D. perhaps? In which case, could you not use stop and limit orders to enter and exit trades and monitor your position during your lunch hour at work? If you want to day trade and those good ol' pals volatility and liquidity are what really float your boat, then take Paul's advice and turn your attention to the U.S.
Good luck,
Tim.

 

[trendie]

bullboy8,

if you are going to trade from an afternoon, I would have thought the US markets would be better, as you get to trade a whole US day (2:30pm to 9pm), rather than a half UK day.

shares may be hit and miss unless you have a defined strategy.

If you go through the economic calendar, you will find indices and FX reacting strongly to NFP and other pre-set calendar events. If you can only trade 4 days a month, wouldnt you want to be around on the "pre-defined" days when the markets are most likely to be volatile?
(I think options expiry is also a Friday, so indices may also get twitchy)

have a read of wasps journal, on his thoughts on trading the news, and his preparing for it. makes a lot of sense.

 

[wasp]

Once a month, one day.

Cable (FX) on Non Farm payrolls. Its easy to get 50 - 100 pips from it and its become very straightforward of late (although no guarantees of course!) If you can trade it at £50pp thats 5K per month for 2 hours work!

Hold on, why am I trading all month...

 

[bullboy8]

thanks for all the replies....i wish to trade on the UK market only...i am new to investing and i wish to trade in my local region as i find uk stock less volatile and i believe the the FSA are doing a good job regulating the UK firms....thus i will will not consider us stock for the time being untill i'm confident i can react quickly enough and with hold the pressure-lol.

i wish to purchase one share from a direct direct each month (thus only one trade a month)....i wish to hold these shares for a period between 2-5years......building up my portfolio, holding about 20plus shares by the end of next year 2007. Will be using Hoodless and brennan as my broker

I want a little volatility but not too much like US stocks and not uk gaming stocks

what is NFP and E.O.D? thanks.....may you post day of the week, time and reason..thanks..

 

[wasp]

what is NFP and E.O.D? thanks.....may you post day of the week, time and reason..thanks..

NFP = Non farm payrolls... my suggestion (as far as I know) will only work with forex so not much good for your needs.

EOD = End of day

 

[Trader333]

The SEC do a better job in the US than the FSA do in th UK.

Trading costs are cheaper

There are plenty of low volatility stocks such as MSFT etc

But if you are intent on trading UK only then Good Luck


Paul

 

[bullboy8]

thanks all for your replies.. and trader333....just out of curiousity..what do you do? I always see your input on here. and your response are quite interesting... u a full time trader--lol...

 

[Mattybuoy]

bullboy8,

What you are proposing with holding for 2-5 years is called investing, not trading. There is nothing wrong with that, but most of what is discussed on this site relates to much shorter timeframes.

Since you have a plan I would suggest that you stick with it, but why do you need to take an afternoon off to do it? Even if you don't have Internet access at work all it takes is a phone call. At lunch or tea break or whatever.

Or, with most brokers you can place "limit" orders over the weekend when the market is closed.

There is no need to sit in front of a screen all day unless you are opening and closing trades within the day.

 

[grantx]

Bullboy8,

One piece of advice: avoid Hoodless, Brennan - an FSA authorised boiler room operation - like the plague. They'll try to stuff you full of shti stocks.

Grant.

 

[bullboy8]

avoid hoodless brennan? what do you mean by stuff me with **** stocks...i select my own stocks. I'm not using the advisory service...jus the execution.. may you develope your reasons

 

[grantx]

Yes I may. Check out their disciplinary records via the FSA web site; do Google search of Hoodless, Brennan; also Geoff Hoodless - his reputation in the City is not enviable.

I worked for this outfit a long time ago when they were just pure stockbrokers, prior to their incursion into pushing spiv stocks.

So your execution-only? They'll find a pretext to call you with a recommendation their "analysts", ie anyone who can read yesterday's markets report in the Daily Mail, has uncovered.

I have also worked as an equities salesman pushing dodgy stock, so I know the score.

And they still owe me a month's salary. But apart from that...

Grant.

 

[CityTrader]

Right…..don’t know how to ask this but I’ll give it a try

Currently I work 9-5 mon-fri like a lot of people . But, I’m getting a little fed up…I feel like I can’t do anything because when I finish business hours finish. I wish to do my banking, go post office, etc…but most importantly I want to start trading in shares. So, I am given the option to fiddle around with my time so that I only work 9-2 on one working day leaving me time to trade.

So, my question is….which day and at what time is it best to trade…..I thought Mondays would be good because it gives me time to read news articles and stuff over the weekends. On the other hand..a lot of bank holiday Mondays in the UK which result in a missed trading opportunity. On average I am expecting to exercise one trade a month. On which days is the LSE most volatile and most busy.

Would Friday (end of week) or the middle of the week be better for me? arethe hours between 2-5 a good time to trade? May you provide reasons for your choice..thanks

Avoid Mondays & Fridays - they are for obvious reasons the thinnest days of the week. I find Thursdays tend to be the most active. Personally - I find the first couple of hours of the day, and the last hour the best - but that may just be me... good luck.

 

[TopIQ]

Excellent idea to trade the last two hours of the us markets, your best strategy is a sideways moving trading range pattern called a slim jim using a w%r and engulfing candlestick to go long or short!

Often price moves counter trend as the day traders close out their longs, so the price falls and you go short etc.

 

[john.galt]

If you are looking for a less volatile day, id say that would be impossible to directly specify since the volatility depends on factors which can change instantly. Also, several analysts say that the months ahead are going to be generally speaking, quite volatile but that there are still many oppertunities to make money through stock picking. Take care,

 

[PurplePerson]

bullboy8 - afraid I have to agree with those who find your opening question and subsequent comments very confusing.

If you are talking of buying one stock per month and holding for years, the time of day and day of week is an irrelevance. Research and select whatever stock you want - outside of market hours - then just place an order with your broker to buy within some price limit (most will accept orders good-for-week - ie will buy at that price if available by Friday close, or lapse if can't do so).


If on the other hand you are talking of trading for a single session each week, for a few hours, that is a whole different ballgame. For it to worth bothering at all, you need a session within which there is significant movement - preferably decent size moves one way or the other or both, not lots of little twitches and counter-twitches. Sods Law says that whichever session you pick from within the 65 hours (8am-9pm x 5 days for UK+US) will often be the one when no movement happens, or when all hell breaks loose - regardless of whatever is the average pattern of behaviour for that day. Having said which, there are some particular days and times which do have issues you might want to consider:

- In the UK, XD day is most frequently a Wednesday. Stocks to which this applies will often open lower than their Tuesday close by the amount of the divi. Some will rebound quick, others will take the xd slippage as the cue for some long awaited fall further.
- In a week (or longer) when all movement has been in one direction, there is a greater likelihood of people banking their gains late Friday - which can trigger some reversal then.
- Most (not all) UK economic announcements are at 9:30am and this can have an impact. Certain US announcements come at 1:30pm UK time. And at other times. Interest rate announcements can not only impact the market bigtime if not as expected - but can dull the market for a day or more beforehand - as can other key statistics. Cetain US announcements can impact the UK markets more than some UK ones.
- The Tuesday before the third Wednesday of each third month (Mar,Jun,Sep,Dec) is expiry day for certain quarterly bets. This can matter where a popular smaller stock has drawn crowds in one direction for a long time.
- Check out the impact of 'triple (or quadruple) witching days - which occur on four Fridays each year and sometimes create spikey activity. If you have bets that benefit from being twigged by spikes you are laughing. If you have stoploss settings that get buggered by spikes you are not laughing.
- Experienced traders on this forum will be able to list various other significant expiry dates and times that can impact markets.
- Monday morning will often see prices shift sharply in line with weekend press coverage, or weekend news around the world. Mostly before the ordinary punter can blink - but sometimes providing opportunities if/when some rebound occurs.
- I could go on.. but Thursdays you will have noticed do seem to escape mostly. Which isn't to say they can't be just as lively or just as flat.

Oh, and i am another who has a very low opinion of Hoodless Brennan!

PP

Edit: Or are you maybe talking both? Trading one session per week and investing once a month?

 

[bullboy8]

Thanks for all the replies...let me clarify...i am wishing to trade on average one a month... and why does everyone seem to have a low opinion of hoodless brennan? they don't carry out executions at best price? they are most cheap for buying and selling

 

[henry766]

agreeing with grantx , i've had my execution only account with Berkeley futures start charging me for advice after their broker asked me what i thought the market would do , you've been warned bullboy8, now you deserve what you get, however cheap they are , they aren't even close to being worth the risk.As for when the best time to trade is , surely it's when you see the best trade !!