Trading the RTH Open

The RTH Open (9:30 EST) is an interesting point of entry. To make money we need 4 things 1. Time 2. Price 3. Volume 4. Direction. One benefit of trading the open is that the trader has a forced entry as the time, price and volume portion of entry is taken care of. Secondly you can chose to trade once only and keep yourself stress free for the rest of the day. So all we have to look for is a profitable direction. Now the question is whether to buy or sell the 9:30 Open. Various options are 1) Trade in the direction of previous day RTH close (4:15 EST)(Gap fill theory). 2) Trade towards the previous days RTH Open (Volume is the biggest magnet). Trade reverse of the 9:29 EST candle i.e. if it is a Red Candle Buy and if Green Sell or reverse i.e. SELL for Red and Buy for Green. I look forward to your inputs

long at 41.75

Stopped out, missed profit target of 4 points by 2 ticks

OK Guru this is what I did. On a 1 min. chart if the 9:29 est candle is green I go short and if red I go long. If a doji see the colour of the 9:28 est candle and follow the same approach. All done with a 4 pt target and 4 point stop loss. No indicators etc. A simple one trade per day approach

Thanks AK.......just curious if you have tried using the big contract for the signals ? My thoughts being that the floor may have a better picture of early morning order flow....I'm wondering how well they track ( the es and the big S&P).the other challenge I would have with this would be the difference in data feeds in general.....thanks for sharing

Yes Bruce,I talked to another fellow trader and this difference in data feed can be a bit challenging. Any way probility is 50% for both at 9:30 est

This is a very good topic. I too am trying to master the ES open. Like you said ak1 "set for life!". ak1 what kind of results have you been getting with your entry/exit strategy? BruceM we both notice the ES's tendency to gravitate toward those numbers. I also notice that the ES will move 10 points in either direction before 10:30 est. Or it will move 5,6 points in one direction and then 5,6 points in the other. All in one hour. The market seems to slow down after 10:30 est. I use a 500 tick chart because it seems to smooth things out a bit. BruceM we also both understand that the market can't turn and go in the other direction without telling us. This is my strategy. I'll trade the first high or low that appears after the open. Then I'll ride the wave until another high or low appears where I will reverse my position. 10:30 est I'm out. This seems to work ok on a 500 tick chart. I wrote a post about it called "Highs and Lows" although my philosophy has changed since I wrote it. Particularly about staying in the market all day.

Rookie,

How are you determining a high/low has been made? For example; are you looking for a 3-bar reversal, or the next candle closing lower, or if the previous swing was taken out etc...

myptofvu. The three bar reversal is what I look for. Inside days don't count.

What is a 3 bar reversal??

Two bars headed up and the other one headed back down. Imagine you were climbing a set of stairs that had a peak at the top like a pyramid. You go up one side and down the other. The last two steps going up would be considered the 2 bars. Then the first step going down the other way would be considered the third.

thank you stockster.