MNQ (Micro Nasdaq 100 Futures) 30 Minute Range by Time of Day
How much does the Micro E-mini Nasdaq 100 actually move on the 30 minute chart at different times of day? The table below is measured from 2,702 recorded 30 minute bars across 12 recent sessions: for each hour of the day, the average distance between a bar's high and its low.
| Hour | Avg 30 minute range | |
|---|---|---|
| 12:00 AM ET | 9.31 pts | |
| 6:00 AM ET | 14.93 pts | |
| 7:00 AM ET | 11.89 pts | |
| 8:00 AM ET | 17.56 pts | |
| 9:00 AM ET | 20.70 pts | |
| 10:00 AM ET | 22.00 pts | |
| 11:00 AM ET | 27.30 pts | |
| 1:00 PM ET | 9.96 pts | |
| 2:00 PM ET | 8.91 pts | |
| 3:00 PM ET | 10.11 pts | |
| 5:00 PM ET | 4.42 pts | |
| 7:00 PM ET | 10.27 pts | |
| 8:00 PM ET | 9.82 pts | |
| 9:00 PM ET | 9.11 pts | |
| 10:00 PM ET | 9.74 pts | |
| 11:00 PM ET | 7.70 pts |
How to read this
The most active hours in this window were 11:00 AM, 10:00 AM, 9:00 AM ET, and the quietest were 5:00 PM and 11:00 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 6× the ground of the quietest.
These figures shift with volatility regimes — they describe the recorded window above, not a guarantee of the next session.