Best Day to Trade?

Here is one of my previous posts from another site. The data referenced below was accumulated through February 2008. At some point I will add another year of data and see if the trend continues. I do know that the recent market upheaval during the fourth quarter of 2008 wreaked some havoc on the these results. Even so, the information below could provide useful in day to day trading decisions.

If you know the little girl's name you are a true t.v. trivia buff. For an extra bonus point, what is the headless doll's name? For two extra bonus points, what was the name of the little girl's mother? If that was too easy and you would like status as the king of all jungle media, what was the name of the doll owned by the little girl's mother? Get the feeling that there is not much going on in this monkey's jungle this weekend?

Ever wonder what day is best to trade? Many traders like to jump in on Monday after spending the weekend researching new stocks. Others tend to stay away from Fridays since holding over the weekend could be risky. Well, take a look at the chart directly below.



This chart represents the historical annualized percent change in price percent for the S&P for a sixteen year period (1962-1978). While this data seems rather dated and insignificant, I decided to compile my own data to see if I could draw any noteworthy comparisons. Amazingly, the standout day appears to be Wednesday even after all these years. See the two charts below. One represents the NYSE % cummulative gain or loss for each day of the week from May 2007 to
February 2008. The other chart is for the NASDAQ during the same time period.




Although the most recent Wednesdays have not been that impressive, the historical evidence is overwhelming. So, what is the best trading day? I'll go with Tuesday...just before the close!