If you haven’t heard me stress this before, I’ll say it again…
Getting yourself ready before the market even opens is one of the smartest things you can do as a trader.
It sets the tone for your whole trading day.
This advice bears repeating, especially now, while the broad market chops around with no clear direction.
Day trading is our best hedge against the chaos of the major indices.
And if you’re walking into your day without a plan, or without looking at your day trade setups before that bell rings, you’re really just gambling.
Don’t wanna be a gambler? Wanna see those trade patterns ahead of time and know exactly how to trade them?
Join me every morning at 8:30 am ET for Pre-Market Prep. It’s all part of my Daily Income Trader System.
You’ll get three other daily webinars, Oracle, trade alerts, and much more…
Master your trading game with Daily Income Trader.
I know, a lot of this prep work can feel repetitive, but that’s the point.
It’s the repetition that builds the edge, so you can be set to trade pre-market.
Before I start, I want to remind everyone that pre-market trading is not for newbies.
For you, the 9:45 window, the afternoon VWAP hold, and other strategies that start after the market opens is your best bet.
Read more about the 9:45 window and why it’s best for new traders in my recent blog post.
Table of Contents
Pre-Market Is Hot Right Now
Early pre-market is on fire right now. You don’t have to be at your desk at 4 a.m., but that 6:00 to 8:45 a.m. window is your sweet spot.
That’s when the best setups form…
The headlines are dropping, the volume is coming in, and the runners are waking up.
News-Based Movers: How the Algos Think
A lot of people don’t realize that there are trading algos that scan press releases for keywords starting at 8 a.m. sharp.
So for example, if a pharma or biotech company just dropped news about a drug breakthrough for cancer treatment, these algos will catch it and be at the ready to buy up shares.
Humans can’t compete on speed here. It’s impossible…
But what we can do is recognize what the algos are reacting to and use that as part of our setup.
Use the Tools: News Scans + Float Filters
Inside the StocksToTrade platform, you can run custom news scans filtered by keywords.
Then scan for float….the smaller the better.
The lower the float, the faster the potential moves.
As a reminder, I consider a low float under 10 million shares, but that’s not a hard and fast rule. If it’s under 20 million with a good setup and strong volume, it’s still a candidate to run big.
StocksToTrade comes with tons of pre-built scans, like the ones above, plus you can create your own.
It has everything you need to stay ahead of the game.
And right now, you can get two weeks of both the STT platform and our Breaking News Chat service for $17.
Grab your 14-day StocksToTrade + Breaking News Chat trial today for only $17
The Setup
The Red Candle Theory is one of my favorite pre-market setups…
I’ve talked about this pattern before but here’s the quick version:
- Wait for the first red five-minute candle after the early spike.
- Use that candle’s range (top and bottom) to set your entry and stop loss level.
- Watch for the break of that range to time your trade.
My Final Thoughts…
If you want to trade pre-market, you need to be ready.
You run your scans. You know what to look for. You wait for the right patterns. And you act with discipline.
It’s not about guessing. It’s about executing a repeatable system.
These setups? They happen almost every day.
It’s not magic. It’s just about doing the work consistently.
That’s exactly what we do during my Pre-Market Prep webinar, every single day at 8:30 a.m.
I’ve been doing it for over ten years straight!
Here’s what we do:
- Scan the entire market.
- Identify top news-based movers.
- Look for the best combinations of float, volume, and catalyst.
- Map out the exact game plan.
Every big move starts with a good plan…
And that plan starts before the market opens.
If you’re ready to get serious, check out the Daily Income Trader System.
In the meantime, are you ready for Monday?
Did you know that Monday morning presents a unique window of opportunity that doesn’t exist at any other time during the week?
The Monday setup has brought 100%+ gains…in just one day!*
I’ve studied and perfected this trade, and now I want to share it with you.
Learn it for yourself in my video tutorial below:
Have a great weekend, everyone. See you back here on Monday.
Tim Bohen
Lead Trainer, StocksToTrade