Period ranges

         Use the period range question to ask about or screen for the size of various trading ranges.

Example:

         In 1993, find the number of times that the first hour’s trading range was more than 24/32nd's.

Questions from Traders:

         What happened on these volatile first hour trading days? Does the first hour determine the range for the day? What day of the week is the most volatile in the first hour?

Setting Up the Search:

Click on the parts of the box below where appears for explanations of features.

Answers:

         We found 23 days (or almost 2 per month) over the course of 1993 that matched our search criteria.

Profile Analyzer Hint: View the actual profiles using the toggle snap-to-scale toolbar button to look for patterns in the search result days.

         A check of the actual profiles of our search results reveals an obvious strategy. In 20 out of 23 cases, purchases made in <A> period can reasonably be expected to be profitable as value is built at or beyond <A> period in the direction of the first hour’s trend. We can also refine our initial search to see what percentage of these highly volatile days fall on a Friday. (Our answer: 43.5%) A quick check of the Fridays shows that they tend to be more volatile in the latter quarter of the year than in earlier months. Our traders have learned much about the market with this simple search and are now better prepared for volatile trading days.