TradingBlog

The Art of Trading the Morning Gap

Open trade is a fantastic opportunity for the smart trader who knows how to identify supply and demand. Most of the time, our entry is within seconds to minutes of the opening bell. Prices gap up because there are more buy orders at the open morning than there is available supply at the prior day’s closing price. They gap down because there are more sell orders at the open than willing demand at the prior day’s close. Therefore, market prices are almost always at price levels where there is a supply and demand imbalance at the open in the morning trade technique.

The input is to not stare at candles on your screen as red and green pictures and patterns. You must recognize what is happening behind the scenes in the morning trade. Whether you’re trading stocks, futures, options, or forex, the logic and rules never change. Again, the market imbalances are greatest at or near the open of trading in all markets. By the end of the first hour of trading each day, a large amount of novice trading capital is simply transferred into the accounts of the astute trader. If you can’t see the novice trader in markets, you most likely are the novice trader.

The dramatic price decline can only happen because there is much more supply at that level than willing demand. The dramatic rate of decline suggests a strong supply and demand imbalance at that level. Now, notice what happens the morning of the upgrade. Our job is to find this novice trader and simply take the other side of his or her trade and make the best of morning trade.

When you enter markets at price levels where supply and demand are out of balance in a big way, especially at or near the open of trading, moves in the market are typically very fast. This trade and the thoughts and rules that went with it are not meant to impress you. I mean to impress upon you the importance of looking at markets for what they really are which is simply an ongoing supply and demand equation. Opportunity exists when this simple and straightforward relationship is out of balance. Everything else in and around markets is just noise that is meant to invite you into markets at the wrong time and in the wrong direction.