TIMING IS EVERYTHING

14 dec. 2023What is timing in simple words? Timing is the time when you SHOULD trade the market. It is very desirable to trade on the market when the market is active, i.e. there is increased volatility, which in turn is associated with any time factors affecting the activity of traders.

Timing must be taken into account by almost any trading system, starting from scalping and ending with positional trading, meaning that timing is not the main period of displaying your chart, but the most effective for trading time that you spend in front of the screen. Even if you trade on a weekly chart, your timing will be Friday evening which is the closing time of the weekly candle.

🕕 TYPES OF TIMINGS
So, the basic timings:

• Intraday
• By type of trading instrument
• News
• On days of the week
• Periods (month / quarter / season)

📊 INTRADAY TIMINGS
Intraday timings on Forex are related to the inclusion of the work of exchanges (sessions) in different parts of the world due to time zones. So-called European session, American and Asian, so in the language of traders denotes trading during the work of exchanges located in different time zones.

European: from 07:00 - 16:00 (GMT).
American: from 13:00 - 21:00 (GMT).
Pacific: from 20:00 - 05:00(GMT).
Asian: 00:00 -09:00(GMT).

Although there are 4 sessions, but only 3 of them are taken into account, as the Pacific Exchange has a very small influence on the market due to small volumes. The most active are Europe and America, often going in opposition to each other, so intraday traders should take into account the time of inclusion of America, as it can confuse all the cards and turn intraday trends. Well, at night the harsh Japanese samurai come and make their own contribution and confusion. A lot of intraday systems are built precisely on turning on or off this or that stock exchange in the work, picking up the nuances of their influence. Intraday timings are also present on stock markets, the calmest time is the so-called evening session. But the mass introduction of trading bots even here can try to shake up the market and lure many traders into it.

📊 BY TYPE OF TRADING INSTRUMENT
There are timings by type of trading instruments. For example, gold and oil are better to trade on the American session, and the main volatile pairs EURUSD and GBPUSD are better to trade in the European session. Of course, it is all rather conditional, but nevertheless, it is necessary to take into account.

📰 NEWS TIMINGS
Everything is simple here. If it is scalping or intraday trading, then hands off the keyboard because the market shakes during the release of important news. But if you like to trade specifically on the news, then it's time, the most timing.

📅 TIMING BY DAYS OF THE WEEK
It has long been noted that the market is volatile differently on different days of the week:
Monday is sluggish and unclear, often markets open with gaps.
Tuesday all are awake, pumped up and the market goes and runs.
Wednesday and Thursday are active too, but on Thursday there are bank reports and, you can say, the banks, having made money, start to aim somewhere.
Friday is the day of losing trades. Very often unpredictable in terms of the previous week's movement, on Friday short-term traders close their positions, which also brings its own turmoil.

📆 TIMING THAT OCCURS DURING A SPECIFIC PERIOD OF THE MONTH
For example, this overlaps with news timing, non-farm peyrols (NFP), the economic news released every first Friday of the month. It is the second most important news after GDP. Be sure to watch the economic news release calendar. The impact of this news may well be spread out over the long term.

💼 QUARTERLY TIMINGS
Directly related to the quarterly closings of futures contracts in stock markets such as the CME. Futures and currency pairs with the same name are considered to influence each other. This can also include the release of quarterly reports of various companies that have their shares on stock exchanges.

🍂 SEASONAL TIMINGS
This is, for example, the New Year and Christmas. Also, the financial new year in Japan, which for some reason occurs in March, and in the U.S. in October. And futures on the same coffee, cotton and sugar should be considered taking into account the time of the year.

In general, timing is one of the most important factors that must be taken into account in your trading system, starting from the stage of its development. When tracking trading statistics, be sure to look at what time your trading system is most effective and whether it is possible, for example, to increase risk at that time or not to trade at other ineffective times at all.