Best Time to Trade S&P 500: Busiest Hours, Measured
The hours when S&P 500 moves most and least, measured on completed bars rather than taken from a generic session chart, and shown in New York and London time.
The best time to trade S&P 500 depends on your style, but its biggest moves cluster in the busiest hours shown in the table on this page, measured from completed hourly bars. Breakout traders usually want those hours; range traders usually prefer the quieter ones.
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When S&P 500 actually moves
The table below is the average high to low range of every hour of the trading day for S&P 500, measured on completed hourly bars. The three busiest hours are highlighted. A busy hour is not a better hour to trade, it is a bigger hour: wider swings, faster fills and wider stops needed. A quiet hour is the opposite. Knowing which one you are in is what lets you size and time a trade on purpose.
Measured: 2186 completed hourly bars (weekends excluded), recalculated weekly, on the OANDA feed our charting desk runs on. Times are converted for today's daylight saving.
| UTC | New York | London | Average range that hour | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 | 19:00 | 00:00 | 12.8 points | |
| 01:00 | 20:00 | 01:00 | 11.6 points | |
| 02:00 | 21:00 | 02:00 | 9.6 points | |
| 03:00 | 22:00 | 03:00 | 8.7 points | |
| 04:00 | 23:00 | 04:00 | 8.3 points | |
| 05:00 | 00:00 | 05:00 | 10.2 points | |
| 06:00 | 01:00 | 06:00 | 11.8 points | |
| 07:00 | 02:00 | 07:00 | 12.5 points | |
| 08:00 | 03:00 | 08:00 | 14.0 points | |
| 09:00 | 04:00 | 09:00 | 11.0 points | |
| 10:00 | 05:00 | 10:00 | 11.2 points | |
| 11:00 | 06:00 | 11:00 | 13.5 points | |
| 12:00 | 07:00 | 12:00 | 18.7 points | |
| 13:00 | 08:00 | 13:00 | 27.0 points | |
| 14:00 | 09:00 | 14:00 | 30.2 points | |
| 15:00 | 10:00 | 15:00 | 23.4 points | |
| 16:00 | 11:00 | 16:00 | 19.5 points | |
| 17:00 | 12:00 | 17:00 | 17.2 points | |
| 18:00 | 13:00 | 18:00 | 17.8 points | |
| 19:00 | 14:00 | 19:00 | 20.4 points | |
| 20:00 | 15:00 | 20:00 | 13.5 points | |
| 22:00 | 17:00 | 22:00 | 11.2 points | |
| 23:00 | 18:00 | 23:00 | 10.5 points |
Which day of the week moves most
| Weekday | Average daily range | Days measured |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 91.1 points | 36 |
| Tuesday | 87.6 points | 36 |
| Wednesday | 89.3 points | 36 |
| Thursday | 94.3 points | 36 |
| Friday | 87.1 points | 36 |
How to use this
- Match your strategy to the hour. Breakout and momentum styles need the busy hours. Range and fade styles do better in the quiet ones.
- Size the stop for the hour, not the day. A stop that is comfortable at the quietest hour can be inside normal noise at the busiest one.
- Mark the levels first. The busy hours are when price reaches the levels traders watch. Today's are on the S&P 500 key levels today page.
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Each figure is the mean of (high minus low) for every completed bar that started in that hour, weekends excluded, on the feed our charting desk reads. New York and London columns are converted for today's daylight saving, so they move by an hour twice a year while the UTC column stays fixed. None of this is a trade recommendation or financial advice.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best time to trade S&P 500?
The busiest hours in the table on this page are when it moves most. Whether that is best for you depends on your strategy: momentum styles want those hours, range styles want quieter ones.
Which day does S&P 500 move the most?
The weekday table on this page lists the average daily range for each weekday over the measured window.
How is this measured?
The mean high to low range of every completed hourly bar, grouped by the hour it started, weekends excluded, recalculated weekly.
Keep learning
Timing is half of it. Chart Bound drills reading S&P 500-style price action on real charts, free.
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