Day 32: Hourly PnL Analysis by IST

Topic: Hour-by-hour profitability analysis in IST timezone
Date: 2026-03-14
Status: โœ… COMPLETED

Research Question

Which hours of the day (IST) are most/least profitable for trading?

Data Analysis

Analyzed 416 trades from trade-journal.json, converted to IST:

IST Hour Trades Total PnL Avg PnL Rating
13:00 28 $376.90 $13.46 โญ BEST
04:00 26 $291.09 $11.20 โญ
07:00 40 $374.91 $9.37 Good
08:00 26 $226.98 $8.73 Good
10:00 28 $232.98 $8.32 Good
05:00 49 $359.97 $7.35 Average
06:00 36 $217.48 $6.04 Average
12:00 37 $235.41 $6.36 Average
02:00 41 $222.80 $5.43 Below avg
09:00 32 $172.32 $5.38 Below avg
11:00 37 $198.65 $5.37 Below avg
14:00 6 $20.87 $3.48 Poor (small n)
03:00 30 $112.28 $3.74 โš ๏ธ WORST

Key Findings

  1. Best hours (IST):
    • 13:00 (1 PM) = $13.46 avg โ€” US market open
    • 04:00 (4 AM) = $11.20 avg โ€” Late US night
  2. Worst hours (IST):
    • 03:00 (3 AM) = $3.74 avg โ€” Late night/early morning
    • 14:00 (2 PM) = $3.48 avg โ€” low sample size
  3. Time-of-day filter already deployed:
    • Current filter: skip hour 6-7 IST (56.3% WR vs 81.3% overall)
    • This analysis confirms afternoon/evening IST is best

Recommendation

NOT DEPLOYABLE โ€” The existing time-of-day filter is already capturing the worst hour (6-7 IST). This granular analysis suggests: - Skip 02:00-04:00 IST (below $5.50 avg) - Focus on 04:00, 07:00, 13:00 IST (above $9 avg)

But the improvement would be marginal given the existing filter. Worth revisiting after more live data.

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