“Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.” –Unknown.

I’m amazed how many traders I know feel compelled to remain glued to the markets until the toothpicks holding their eye lids open start a new piercing fad. I guess there’s nothing wrong with doing this, but like William Shatner says: “get a life.” Or rather, learn not just how to trade but when to trade.

If you want to catch moves when day trading, figure out what type of moves you want to catch and determine when those types of moves are likely to happen. Then, watch the market around those times. Different times of the day are conducive to different types of trading. You can trend trade, swing trade, scalp, or range trade. As long as your account increases on average, there is really no correct or incorrect way to go about doing so.

BIG TRENDS
European Trading: Perhaps you like catching nice trending moves. You should probably trade the European session. Moves are often fun, fast and directional. Beware false breakouts around the open and know which direction to jump into. I know a lot of traders who habitually pick the wrong direction during the European session and like averaging in. You can make money that way if you really want to, but it’s a lot easier and less nerve racking to just pick the right way from the start.

SWING TRADING
Asian Swing Trading: If you like swing moves, you can either just enter off levels, or watch price action around levels at a given time of day. I recommend towards the end of the Asian trading session. Liquidity is pretty low. You can expect not to expect the unexpected. In other words, not a lot happens. And price from prior trending moves tends to stop on important levels.

New York or Asian range trading: There is nothing wrong with buying the lows and selling the tops if that’s your cup of tea. For this type of trading, I suggest waiting until after noon New York time. By then, the Euro especially has generally put in its daily top. You can buy off of small pullbacks or sell off prior resistance. Be careful, because new highs in a long move can trip your stops by just enough pips to pip you off before continuing an arduous consolidation pattern. If you trade short term binaries, this might be a good time of day for you to look at selling spikes and buying dips.

New York Morning: If you’re ok with moves reversing on an arbitrary level after a 50 or 60 pip move then the New York session is for you. It won’t take you long to figure out this is a skittish market. News can move things a lot of pips in only a few seconds only to reverse direction and resume the prior evening’s trend. This is my least favorite time of the day to trade. Of course you can make money, but you’ll need nerves of steel. There are two important tips when trading the early New York session. 1: Don’t fight the trend. 2: Don’t buy the highs or short the lows. Now if that doesn’t confuse things, I don’t know what does. Watch price action around major and minor support and resistance areas. Learn to read candle patterns. Wicks can often tell you a lot about direction and give you places to put stops. On the other hand, sometimes they just mess with your head.

BOTTOM LINE
Trading is a game where the only rule is the market is always right. Money isn’t the objective, it’s simply the scoreboard. As long as you and the market gods are in tune, you’ll do well. When you’re not in tune, take up a new hobby that day, like inline skating, or rock climbing or bungee jumping. It’ll be a lot safer and less expensive.