[Robert]

Are there days when a trader should stay flat and not trade at all? I find Fridays a hard day to trade. Is anyone having a similar problem?

[Soultrader]

I dont think there is any single day easier than the others. I personally find it easier in the morning session so I choose to be aggressive and more conservative in the afternoons.

Just stay away from the doldrums on Fridays though... its just not worth it.

[ant]

When I started daytrading part-time, I had asked Linda Raschke the following question:

Are there more/better trading opportunities in the S&P in the morning session (9:30am to 1pm), in the afternoon session (1pm to 4:15pm), or is it about the same? I am working on setting up my work schedule for my other job based on this information. I will also only be able to trade a half day for 3 days out of the week. Any insight as to which 3 days would be best?

Here is Linda Rashke's response:

Definitely the best day-trading opportunity comes in the morning session - this is when you will get the most countertrend type of movement (swings in both directions). Also, morning reversals are more common then afternoon reversals as well. The great majority of daytraders tend to make most of their money in the morning session. Monday and Fridays are the lightest volume days of the week - so if I had to choose just three days to trade, it would be Tues, - Thursday. Next choice would be Monday - Wednesday.

I chose to trade the morning sessions on Tues, Wed, and Thurs. From empirical observation, I would agree with her response.

[protrader]

since 1953 S&P daily percentages of times market closed higher than previous day (1953- july 2005)

monday 47.2%
tuesday 51.2%
wednesday 55.8%
thursday 52.2%
friday 56.6%

Also have read recently that most traders are having best results tuesdays and thursdays.

[MrPaul]

Originally Posted by protrader »

since 1953 S&P daily percentages of times market closed higher than previous day (1953- july 2005)

monday 47.2%
tuesday 51.2%
wednesday 55.8%
thursday 52.2%
friday 56.6%

Also have read recently that most traders are having best results tuesdays and thursdays.

hey protrader,

Do you happen to have access to S&P daily percentages of times market closed Lower than previous day?
Thanks

[ant]

MrPaul,

The number of days that were no change from the previous day is close to zero. So just subtract the numbers above from 100 to get the percentages of lower closes. The data below is for Jan. 1960 to Present. Results are close to 50-50, so not sure how to capitalize on that data. If anyone wants the tradestation code to do this, let me know and I'll post it.

Percentage of Up Days:
Monday: 46.48%
Tuesday: 51.99%
Wednesday: 56.45%
Thursday: 52.33%
Friday: 54.66%
======
Percentage of Down Days:
Monday: 48.98%
Tuesday: 49.45%
Wednesday: 44.57%
Thursday: 47.50%
Friday: 44.61%
======
Percentage of NoChange Days:
Monday: 0.38%
Tuesday: 0.68%
Wednesday: 0.59%
Thursday: 0.76%
Friday: 0.64%

[MrPaul]

thanks Ant

[protrader]

thanks for the answer mrpaul