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$100 Invested by Hour

Oct 14, 2015

Below is a chart we put together showing the value that $100 invested in the S&P 500 at the start of the year would be worth now.  But instead of a buy and hold strategy, we’re looking at hourly performance for the index on every trading day that it has been open.  Since the market opens at the half-hour mark, the first “hour” of the day is from the prior day’s close through 10 AM ET.  Since we’re using the prior day’s close, this means that any move in after hours or pre market trading that the market experiences is included in the first “hour”.

As shown, four hours of the day have been losing investments this year, while three have been winners.  The best time to own the S&P this year has been from 10 AM to 11 AM, where a starting investment of $100 was used to buy at 10 AM every day and selling at 11 AM would now be worth $105.  The first hour and Noon to 1 PM hours have been the worst periods of the day, each leaving you with $96 after investing $100.

In a report sent to clients earlier today, we looked at hourly investing over much longer time horizons.  Some of the results we found were pretty amazing.  Below is a chart showing the value of $100 invested in hourly intervals since the bull market began.  You’ll see that one hour of the day stands out with significant gains, while most others are still relatively close to the $100 mark.  Want to know which hour it is?   Sign up for a 10-day free trial to our Bespoke Premium service to view the just-published report now.  Bespoke Premium also gives you access to a number of other original market reports that go out on a daily basis.