The Trading Variable Almost Everyone Ignores

29 Sept 2026 · 1 min

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In this monologue, the presenter argues that traders often overlook a crucial second axis on the chart: time. While most focus solely on price (the Y‑axis), the X‑axis—timing of the day—significantly influences trade outcomes. He explains that certain periods carry higher predictive weight. The 5:00 AM–7:00 AM New York window is described as a “limbo” zone, overlapping the London lunch hour and occurring before the New York market opens, making price moves less predictable. He advises traders to avoid this period and instead aim to trade after about 8:30 AM New York time, when market participants are actively at their desks. The peak moment, he notes, is the 9:30 AM New York futures open, which coincides with the full opening of the New York stock market and offers the most reliable trading conditions.

Chapters

One of the things that I love to talk about is there are 2 axes on the chart, right? So many people just focus on the Y-axis, which is price action, but they completely forget that there is an X-axis as well, which is timing. So what I'm trying to say here is that certain things happening at certain times of the day has drastically like higher weight or like higher success rate versus if it's happening at a very random time of the day. For example, 5:00 AM New York to 7:00 AM New York is a very weird time because this is like the London lunch hour and New York hasn't opened yet. So you're in a bit of a weird limbo zone where you get a lot of shenanigans happening and it's less predictable as you get into the New York kill zone. And ideally, even if you can stick to trading after 8:30 AM of the New York kill zone, because that's when people are starting to come onto the desk. And obviously 9:30 AM New York is the absolute kind of hotspot timing because that's when you get the New York futures open, like where the entirety of the New York stock market is open.