e-mini: regular hours vs after hours

Al gives the answer to this in the My Setup section of Learn to Trade at the top of the website.

I have traded the Micro e-mini during after hours for about 2 years.  Unfortunately not very successfully until I realized that there are specific time periods where it is possible to trade well.  However, overall I have found it best for people who like scalping (measured moves  mainly), but recently there have been decent trends due to the increased volatility.

Trading opens at 3pm Pacific time, but starting at around 4pm, trading starts in China and extends until 11pm.  I have noted that often the e-mini will do nothing for much of the evening except for around 430-5pm and sometimes around 6 and 7pm.  During these times there are often some small tradable breakouts. I suspect the big moves around 7pm are related to announcements coming out of Sydney, so be aware.

The next tradable time occurs starting around 1015pm, since trading in much of Europe opens at 11pm.  The 1015pm time is tricky to trade, since often there is a push in the expected direction of whatever setup I'm watching, but then it will reverse for a larger move in the opposite direction.  I suspect this is deliberate to take out the stops and develop liquidity.  So usually I close any open trades from earlier around 10pm.

At 11pm Europe opens and there is a lot of volatility for 30 minutes or so.  However, often no big trend develops from 11pm to midnight, since at midnight, trading opens in England. This is where the bigger moves come in, but often not until 2-3am.  Before that, there is often a lot of whiplashes with large counter trend moves making new hi's/low's, then reversing.  So, if I think the market is going down and I put in a short at say 1230am for a swing trade, I usually get my stop loss hit.  Personally I think the best trends are from 2am to 5am, even compared to the American trading day.  Decide for yourself, but also look at currencies during this time, like 6A and 6C, as well as copper (HG) as there some really great trends at times.

Last, Sunday afternoons from 3pm-7pm are often the best time to trade after hours, especially lately (summer 2022) as there has been news piling up over the weekend.  Thus at times you get great trends. So, if you really want to try trading after hours, this is often the best time to trade.

So basically after hours e-mini trading can be done, but you have to be aware of what time it is.  Sometimes I get caught up and keep trading into the 7-10pm time, which often is the doldrums, and get whiplashed even on great setups.  However, occasionally there are some great trends during that time.

Overall, I think after hours e-min trading is a good way to develop price action skills if you are still working.  But don't get frustrated, as the low volume during this time makes for difficult trading.  Because of this you can get into the habit of just scalping instead of swing trading.  This can lead to getting out too soon when you start trading during the day.

I hope you found this helpful.

Andrew, WHats the video number you mention?  "My Setup section of Learn to Trade "

Mike Breland, Please confirm all the times mentioned in this post are PST?

Posted by: Carl

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Andrew, WHats the video number you mention?  "My Setup section of Learn to Trade "

Hi Carl. Andrew is referring to the 5th article link down on the "Learn to Trade" main menu. It is also #04 video in course.

BTC has been my learning focus for over a year.  The majority of my paper trading is with the emini S&P during ETH because from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm I'm working 5 days a week.  My goal is to supplement my income through trading then retire from carpentry if/when I've proven to myself that I can earn a good and consistent living. I understand Al's course is focused on RTH so I'm searching for a or a group of traders who actively and successfully price point trade off the Globex ETH.