MNQ (Micro Nasdaq 100 Futures) 500 Minute Range by Time of Day
How much does the Micro E mini Nasdaq 100 actually move on the 500 minute chart at different times of day? The table below is measured from 1,646 recorded 500 minute bars across 3 recent sessions: for each hour of the day, the average distance between a bar's high and its low.
| Hour | Avg 500 minute range | |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00 AM ET | 6.76 pts | |
| 10:00 AM ET | 6.41 pts | |
| 11:00 AM ET | 5.32 pts | |
| 12:00 PM ET | 4.95 pts | |
| 2:00 PM ET | 5.29 pts | |
| 3:00 PM ET | 4.95 pts | |
| 4:00 PM ET | 6.04 pts | |
| 6:00 PM ET | 7.79 pts | |
| 7:00 PM ET | 6.07 pts |
How to read this
The most active hours in this window were 6:00 PM, 9:00 AM, 10:00 AM ET, and the quietest were 12:00 PM and 3:00 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 2× the ground of the quietest.
These figures shift with volatility regimes — they describe the recorded window above, not a guarantee of the next session.