How much does the Micro E-mini S&P 500 actually move on the 2-minute chart at different times of day? The table below is measured from 1,638 recorded 2-minute bars across 4 recent sessions: for each hour of the day, the average distance between a bar's high and its low.
| Hour | Avg 2-minute range | |
|---|---|---|
| 12:00 AM ET | 1.18 pts | |
| 1:00 AM ET | 1.28 pts | |
| 2:00 AM ET | 1.60 pts | |
| 3:00 AM ET | 1.88 pts | |
| 4:00 AM ET | 2.39 pts | |
| 5:00 AM ET | 1.87 pts | |
| 6:00 AM ET | 1.49 pts | |
| 7:00 AM ET | 1.92 pts | |
| 8:00 AM ET | 2.52 pts | |
| 9:00 AM ET | 3.65 pts | |
| 10:00 AM ET | 4.08 pts | |
| 11:00 AM ET | 3.43 pts | |
| 12:00 PM ET | 2.41 pts | |
| 1:00 PM ET | 2.46 pts | |
| 2:00 PM ET | 2.17 pts | |
| 3:00 PM ET | 2.40 pts | |
| 4:00 PM ET | 1.64 pts | |
| 6:00 PM ET | 0.98 pts | |
| 7:00 PM ET | 1.11 pts | |
| 8:00 PM ET | 2.03 pts | |
| 9:00 PM ET | 1.68 pts | |
| 10:00 PM ET | 1.73 pts | |
| 11:00 PM ET | 1.34 pts |
The most active hours in this window were 10:00 AM, 9:00 AM, 11:00 AM ET, and the quietest were 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM ET. A wider bar means each interval covers more ground. The takeaway is purely observational: a fixed number of points represents a very different share of typical movement at different hours — in this window, the most active hour covered roughly 4× the ground of the quietest.
These figures shift with volatility regimes — they describe the recorded window above, not a guarantee of the next session.