When Does ES (S&P 500 E-mini Futures) Actually Move? Hourly Ranges on 15 minute Charts
Educational reference. Measured from 5,871 recorded 15 minute bars of E-mini S&P 500 through November 3, 2026.
10:00 is the busiest hour, averaging 12.50 per bar — 4.2× the quietest hour at 19:00.
The same stop is a different stop at different times of day. This is the median high to low range of a single 15 minute bar of E-mini S&P 500, hour by hour, measured from 5,871 recorded bars over the last 90 days.
| Hour (ET) | Median range | Bars | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 | 3.00 | 256 | |
| 01:00 | 3.75 | 256 | |
| 02:00 | 4.75 | 256 | |
| 03:00 | 5.25 | 256 | |
| 04:00 | 5.75 | 256 | |
| 05:00 | 5.00 | 256 | |
| 06:00 | 4.50 | 256 | |
| 07:00 | 5.50 | 256 | |
| 08:00 | 6.75 | 256 | |
| 09:00 | 7.50 | 256 | |
| 10:00 | 12.50 | 256 | |
| 11:00 | 10.25 | 256 | |
| 12:00 | 8.25 | 256 | |
| 13:00 | 7.50 | 253 | |
| 14:00 | 6.50 | 252 | |
| 15:00 | 6.25 | 252 | |
| 16:00 | 5.75 | 252 | |
| 17:00 | 3.12 | 62 | |
| 18:00 | 4.25 | 192 | |
| 19:00 | 3.00 | 256 | |
| 20:00 | 5.00 | 256 | |
| 21:00 | 4.75 | 256 | |
| 22:00 | 4.00 | 256 | |
| 23:00 | 3.50 | 256 |
The spread across the day
The busiest hour is 10:00, averaging 12.50 per bar. The quietest is 19:00 at 3.00. That is a 4.2× difference across the same instrument, the same timeframe, the same trading day.
A stop sized for 19:00 conditions will be caught routinely at 10:00, and a stop sized for 10:00 gives away far more than it needs to overnight. The same number of points does not mean the same thing at every hour.
See LiveCharts.AI predicting E-mini S&P 500 live — 7 day free trial →
How this was measured
Every 15 minute bar of E-mini S&P 500 recorded in the last 90 days was grouped by the hour it opened, in Eastern time. The figure shown is the median of high minus low within each group — the middle bar of that hour, not the average, so a single outlier session cannot distort it. Hours with fewer than 60 recorded bars are omitted rather than shown on thin evidence.
These are recorded market ranges, not predictions. Nothing on this page is a projection.
See live predictions on LiveCharts.AI →
See LiveCharts.AI in action — predicted candlesticks and indicators, 30 bars into the future, before they occur:
Questions traders ask
15 minute futures candle analysis for S&P 500 E-mini Futures On the 15 minute ES chart LiveCharts.AI predicts the next 30 candles, about 7 hours ahead, and redraws them as each 15 minute candle closes. Candlestick prediction →
AI trading copilot for ES Yes. In LiveCharts.AI you chat with the live ES chart: ask what the predicted candles imply or where the predicted indicators turn, and the answer is about the chart in front of you. Chat with a trading chart →
Ask AI to compare past and future candles for S&P 500 E-mini Futures LiveCharts.AI's chat reads the same ES chart you are looking at: ask where the prediction changes direction, what the predicted highs and lows are, or how today compares with yesterday. AI trading assistant →
More questions traders ask
Stock For S&P 500 E-mini Futures, LiveCharts.AI draws predicted candlesticks and indicators to the right of the live price, and its AI chat answers questions about the ES chart. Predictions are estimates, not certainties. S&P 500 E-mini Futures predictions →
Nyse live Open the ES chart on LiveCharts.AI to see where S&P 500 E-mini Futures is now and where its next 30 candles are predicted to go. Past ES predictions are published next to what the market actually did. S&P 500 E-mini Futures predictions →
Latest stock market news LiveCharts.AI predicts the path of S&P 500 E-mini Futures (ES) 30 bars ahead on every timeframe and shows how recent predictions compared with what happened, so the record can be checked before relying on one. S&P 500 E-mini Futures predictions →