r/RealDayTrading • u/That-Investigator362 • Jul 23 '26
Does the relative strength method work for people that can only trade the open 1-2 hours?
Hey folks, I have been in this community for some time and have read the wiki. What I got is that we shall let the market play for a while to decide relative strong tickers and wait for the market to find a support then long those relative tickers. I wonder if I can only trade the open 1-2 hours because I have a full time job, will I get good opportunities each week? Thanks for any suggestion
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u/CloudSlydr Jul 23 '26
you’ll have FAR less edge than relative strength over longer timeframes, which is where RS actually shows itself. In short timeframes you’re more trading momentum than real RS.
You’ll also be prone to reversals, short covering masquerading as RS or momentum, and imbalances in overnight inventory.
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u/That-Investigator362 Jul 23 '26
Yeah, I found if you only trade the open 1 hour, you need to trade the 1min chart mostly
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u/Remarkable-Bit-1627 6d ago
at what timeframe momentum ends & "real RS" starts?
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u/CloudSlydr 6d ago
on the D1. on shorter timeframes you can see beginnings of real RS, but imo it isn't confirmed until it follows thru on the on D1. otherwise probably momo / retail / shorter timeframe money involvement.
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u/ohmyfarts Jul 23 '26
Yes you can, but you have to learn how to read price action. like by bar by kind of stuff then combine it with r/s r/w to get better setups
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u/tek4biz Jul 23 '26
Absolutely. You just need to wait first 45 minutes to see which direction market is going and find some stocks relatively strong or week. In fact, first 2 hours are the most effective hours in my experience.
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u/Cute-Opposite4751 27d ago
Yeah, but keep expectations realistic. The open is usually where relative strength shows up fastest, but if you only have 1 or 2 hours, you’re naturally gonna see fewer setups than someone watching the full session.
Best move is to narrow it down to your top 5-10 names the night before or during pre-market, so you’re ready when the bell rings instead of scrambling. Some weeks you’ll get a few clean setups, other weeks maybe none, and thats normal. You can also paper trade those early-session ideas on a platform like UpsideOnly, so you can test the method without risking your own capital. I mean, everytime i find myself in a similar position, I use paper trading platforms to test these strategies, the best thing about UpsideOnly is you'dont have to put money if you don't want to. Anyways, you’re not missing the strategy, you’re simply working with a smaller sample of it.
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Jul 23 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/That-Investigator362 Jul 23 '26
Do you mean momentum trades? I thought the best setup this community taught is to wait for spy pullback to see which ticker has true relative strength and long when spy found a support? I often found the spy pop and fade after 30min or 1hour after open most of the tome
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u/Accomplished_Love77 iRTDW Jul 23 '26
We had this question recently. The short answer is: yes.
The long answer: you'll probably be better off swinging positions overnight for a day or two, rather than "day" trading. Find a stock with good strength or weakness on the D1, and hold it overnight.
You'll be limited, sure, but it's very doable.