How the S&P 500 Actually Behaves During the Trading Day

Tim Titus — intraday S&P 500 index options trader and founder of SPX Option Trader

Most financial commentary is written in terms of prediction. Where the market will go next week. Next month. Next year. My work focuses on something different.

I study how the S&P 500 behaves during the trading session itself.
Not what the market should do, but how participants are actually responding in real time.

I’ve spent decades trading, which gives me an advantage in recognizing how the market behaves during the trading session.

Price movement during the day reflects how traders are reacting in real time. Certain patterns appear again and again.

The open shows whether overnight positioning holds. The middle of the session shows whether buyers or sellers are actually in control. Late in the day often reveals whether larger participants are committing to positions or stepping aside.

I am not trying to predict where the market will be weeks from now. I focus on what the market is doing while it is happening.

The articles on this website explain those observations. They are not trade alerts and they are not a trading course. They are written to clarify why some sessions produce tradable structure and others do not.

I have traded financial markets since the late 1990s and focus exclusively on SPX and SPY index options, including same-day expiration (0DTE) contracts. My real-time trade communication and daily market plan are published at SPXOptionTrader.com. This website exists as a separate place to publish written explanations and observations about intraday market behavior.

Over time markets change, but the process remains the same: observe, interpret, and participate only when conditions justify the risk.

Scroll to Top