Page 483 - THE MARKET WHISPERER

THE MARKET WHISPERER 47 9

The market, like humans,
needs its own special days.

Prepare for the Expectable

On certain days, at certain times known in advance, the market will behave
in special ways. This requires us to prepare specially for such occasions.
Sometimes the meaning of “prepare” is simply not to trade on that day, and
sometimes it will mean that those are precisely the times when amazingly
interesting opportunities will fall in our laps. Each occasion has its own
particular character.

The Last Day of the Week

The last day of the trading week is Friday. A drop in tension is felt by stock
traders on this day, and the volume of activity usually plummets during the
second half of Friday’s work hours. As activity thins on the stock exchange
floor, it signals the time for us, the traders, to close our week as well.
Without volume and other traders, there is no volatility or direction, and
the market is open to the manipulations of the big players and the market
makers who go to work in the “vacuums.”

On Fridays, most of the trading opportunities occur during the first two
hours of trading. Trading throughout the rest of the day depends on market
behavior, which can be very shallow though occasionally does surprise for
the better. My wife used to say that if I never traded on Fridays, my trading
account would show a higher balance… Well, it’s not exactly like that, but I
do admit that the quantity of successes on Fridays is very low.