Trading News
Jun. 6, 20234 min read

Mastering Pre-Market Moves: A Trading Guide

Tim BohenAvatar
Written by Tim Bohen

Hoth Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOTH) had a beautiful premarket move yesterday… 

It broke through the Oracle level I was watching and spiked 39%! 

Then after the market opened, it played out the pattern designed for crappy day-one biotechs — the dip and rip

If you missed the moves you might be thinking of starting to trade in premarket. 

Especially when a stock checks the boxes like HOTH did… 

And if you hold into the open, you can catch a spike and add more potential profit to your position

But that’s a dangerous game. 

And it goes against the rules I preach and practice. 

So let’s refresh your memory on some of the rules to use in premarket and at the open. And I’ll show you why they’re crucial to follow with a catastrophic example. 

When to Buy in Pre and Sell in Pre

When I talk about buying in pre-market and selling in pre-market, understand that this approach is aggressive.

Being aggressive isn’t always bad — but you have to know when to do it. 

What so many people mess up is they get more aggressive when things aren’t going well. 

Imagine you had an awesome trading day yesterday. Everything went smoothly, and you were just firing on every cylinder — everything worked. 

That’s when you can get aggressive.

And HOTH checked all the boxes to buy in pre, sell in pre: 

  • Alzheimer’s News
  • Low float 
  • Cheap locates the (it was only 2 cents to short it)  
  • Former runner 

But if nothing worked yesterday, nothing worked on Monday, and you’ve had a terrible week — don’t go anywhere near any crappy biotech in premarket.

When things aren’t going well, you stick to the 9:45 a.m. or later rule. 

But even if you have a hot hand — it doesn’t mean you should break the rules and hold a premarket runner into the open. 

You have to play the odds

Because the majority of these collapse at the open. 

And you don’t have to go back too far to find an example of how wrong it can go — quickly! 

Why Traders Shouldn’t Hold into the Market Open

Remember Timber Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AMEX: TMBR) on Monday?  

It tanked at the market open with a big gap and a halt. It was a dirty move. 

TMBR chart: 1-day, 5-minute candle — courtesy of StocksToTrade.com

And HOTH had the potential to do the same thing… 

The stock has a history of one-and-done moves — look at the chart.

HOTH chart: 6-month, daily candle — courtesy of StocksToTrade.com

So there was a good chance HOTH collapsed at the open just like TMBR did. 

That’s why we have rules and stick to them

If you followed the buy-in pre, sell-in pre rule in HOTH, you could’ve locked in profits and reentered the dip and rip. 

And if you stuck to the rule in TMBR on Monday, you avoided getting crushed at the market open. 

Know when to be aggressive and when to play it safe and wait until 9:45 a.m. or later. But also know the rules and the odds for every setup. 

Play the odds and make smart decisions.

Have a great day everyone. See you back here tomorrow. 

Tim Bohen

Lead Trainer, StocksToTrade