The Early Bird Gets the S&P 500 Worm

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By Trey Thoelcke Published
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Bespoke Investment Group has examined trading patterns in the S&P 500 index since June 1, the market’s summer low, and broken down them hour by hour. The question is, does the early bird get the worm when it comes to trading the S&P 500?

The answer is yes. On average the index has seen the biggest gains in the first 30 minutes of trading, or an average gain of 0.1% since June 1 in early trading. The second best intraday gain, an average of 0.08%, came in the final hour of each day’s session.

Bespoke found that, on days when the index has closed higher, it averaged a gain of 0.5% in the first 30 minutes and a gain of less than 0.2% in the last hour of the session.

However, on days when the S&P 500 ended down, the average decline was about 0.3% in the early trading, while trading was flat in the final hour.

The weakest times for trading were mid morning and mid afternoon. On average, since June 1 the S&P 500 index has declined 0.03% between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. and between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m., the results showed.

So one could say that Bespoke’s results suggest to traders: don’t be late, don’t quit early and go ahead a take those coffee breaks.

Photo of Trey Thoelcke
About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.

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