Best Time Slots for Intraday Trading

Market Hours Breakdown

Equity Markets:
- Open from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM
- Regular Trading Hours: 9:15 AM to 3:30 PM
- Post Market Hours: 3:40 PM to 4:00 PM

Pre-Market and Post-Market
- Lack of liquidity
- Can only enter trades, not exit
9:15 AM to 9:30 AM (First 15 Minutes)
- High volatility due to price discovery
- Increased likelihood of stop-loss being hit
- Psychological impact of early losses
3:00 PM to 3:30 PM (Last Half Hour)
- Most brokers don't allow intraday orders beyond 3:15 PM
- Limited time for trades to work out
Half Hour Before European Markets Open (12:00 PM - 1:30 PM)
- Depending on daylight saving
- Potential negative global sentiment

Momentum-Based Strategies
- Ideal Time Slots: 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM, 1:30 PM to 3:00 PM
- Morning: Active retail traders create momentum
- Last Hour: Institutional activity creates momentum
Mean Reversion Strategies
- Ideal Time Slots: 10:30 AM to 1:30 PM
- After initial moves, there's potential for reversion to mean
Gap-Based Strategies
- Ideal Time Slot: 9:15 AM to 9:30 AM
- Experienced traders only
- Enhanced volatility requires smaller position sizes
Expiry Day Strategies
- Days: Wednesday and Thursday (Nifty and Bank Nifty), Tuesday (FiNifty)
- Ideal Time Slots: 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM (up to 2:30 PM with caution)
- Avoid trading beyond 2:30 PM due to high volatility
Event-Based Strategies
- Pre-Event: Avoid trading due to speculation
- Post-Event: Wait 10-15 minutes before taking a trade
- Never trade through the event

Scalping Strategies
- Broad term with various sub-strategies
- Momentum-based scalping: 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM, 1:30 PM to 3:00 PM
- Key levels or mean reversion-based scalping: 10:30 AM to 1:30 PM
Arbitrage Strategies
- Independent of specific market hours
- Opportunities appear randomly throughout the day
- Not recommended for retail traders due to competition from algorithms