Unlike traditional investing, trading has a short-term focus. Analysis may be broken down to days, hours and even minutes. Because trading focuses on such short time frames, the time of day in which a trade is made can be an important factor to consider. Buying and selling by individual investors is especially heavy in the minutes immediately after the market opens, when all of the news releases since the previous close are being factored into the action. It’s a time when the chances of getting the best price for a stock are lower and swings tend to be bigger. A skilled trader may be able to recognise the appropriate patterns and make a quick profit, but a less skilled trader could suffer serious losses as a result of this volatility. "The overall cost to trade is lower, and the risk of getting a bad trade is lower, if you wait 30 minutes after the market opens," says Scott Kubie at CLS Investments. "After the first half-hour whatever orders had been pushed in from the night before ...
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