Best Time to Trade the E-mini Nasdaq-100
If you want to trade the largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market, you need to know the best time of the day to trade it.
The E-mini Nasdaq-100 (NQ) gives you one of the most efficient ways to gain market exposure to the Nasdaq-100 equity index. It’s a broad-based index that tracks 100 large-cap companies that span major industry sectors. With the NQ, you can take positions on the Nasdaq-100 performance electronically.
E-mini Nasdaq-100 Trading Hours
The E-mini Nasdaq-100 trades Sunday to Friday from 18:00 until 17:00 ET of the next day. The one-hour gap is a daily maintenance period.
Each session also has a short 15-minute trading halt from 16:15 until 16:30 ET.
| Region | Trading Hours | Trading Halt |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | Monday to Friday 00:00 – 23:00 | 22:15 – 22:30 |
| Japan | Monday to Saturday 07:00 – 06:00 | 05:15 – 05:30 |
| New York | Sunday to Friday 18:00 – 17:00 | 16:15 – 16:30 |
| Singapore | Monday to Saturday 06:00 – 05:00 | 04:15 – 04:30 |
| United Kingdom | Sunday to Friday 23:00 – 22:00 | 21:15 – 21:30 |
The nearly 24-hour access means your hands aren’t tied when off-hour news and overseas events occur. There’s no need to wait for the stock market to open to manage your positions.
The Best Time of Day to Trade
Speaking from my own experience, trend trading opportunities mostly arise during the morning session which are the first 2 hours of the RTH. That’s usually when important decisions are made that could dramatically break and reverse an existing trend.
While the E-mini Nasdaq-100 trades almost around the clock, the best time of the day to trade it is actually during regular trading hours (RTH). These are weekdays from 09:30 until 16:00 ET. Liquidity is the highest during RTH and ensures that you can load and unload large positions without impacting the market price.
Matt Hagemann
Published Fri Apr 09 2021 (last modified Thu Jan 25 2024)