What it is
Markets have a daily rhythm. Gold and US30 often wake up at the London and New York opens and go quiet in the late evening. Time of day DNA measures that rhythm from the market's own candles, rather than relying on a general rule.
It is a WickSpeak tool. It describes a tendency, not a promise: what an hour has usually done, not what it will do today.
How it is calculated
1. It needs a chart of 1 hour or shorter. 2. Take the hourly candles of the last 30 days (the days back setting) and group them by London clock hour. 3. For each hour, measure each day's range as a share of price and find the middle half (the 25th to 75th percentile). That is shown in points as the usual move. 4. Count how often that hour closed higher than it opened. 5. Compare each hour's typical range with the average of all hours: around 1.3 times or more is a busy hour, around 0.7 times or less a quiet one. 6. Shade past hours warm when busy and cool when quiet, and draw a band for the next hour.
Settings
| Setting | Default | Range | What it changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| days back | 30 | 5 to 120 | How many days of hours are measured. More days gives steadier figures; fewer reacts to a recent change. |
| show | both | next hour, past hours or both | Show the band for the coming hour, the shaded past hours, or both. |
How to read it
How to trade it
- 1
Check the next hour band on gold 5 minute before planning a trade.
- 2
Entry trigger: take your normal set up, but favour breakouts going into busy hours and fades going into quiet ones.
- 3
Stop: make sure your stop is wider than normal noise for that hour; a stop smaller than the low end of the usual move is likely to be hit by noise.
- 4
Target: keep targets inside the usual range for the hour unless the trend is strong.
- 5
Avoid starting new breakout trades just before an hour that is usually quiet.
A plan built on a quiet hour is proved wrong if price moves beyond the outer band for that hour; treat it as a news or trend move and manage the trade accordingly.
WickSpeak shades past hours by how busy they usually are, draws a band for the next hour and writes a plain-English reading such as how many points the next hour usually moves and how often it closed up over the days measured. Hovering an hour shows its usual move and its busy and closed up figures.
Best markets and timeframes
Built for 1 minute to 1 hour charts. Most useful on gold, US30, NAS100 and the major forex pairs, which have a clear daily rhythm.
Common mistakes
- Reading the closed up share as a prediction; it is a past tendency.
- Using too few days, so one news spike skews the hour.
- Forgetting that clocks change for daylight saving, which can shift busy hours by one for a few weeks.
Works well with
Questions traders ask
What is the best time of day to trade gold?
It depends on the chart. Time of day DNA measures it for you from the last 30 days, showing which London hours are usually busiest. Gold is typically most active around the London and New York opens.
Why are the hours in London time?
WickSpeak measures hours on the London clock so the rhythm lines up with the London and New York sessions, which drive most activity in gold, indices and forex.
Does Time of day DNA predict the next hour?
No. It shows what that hour has usually done on this chart. It is a tendency to plan around, not a forecast.
Why does it need a 1 hour or shorter chart?
It measures each clock hour separately. On a 4 hour or daily chart there are no individual hours to measure.