US30 — New York's momentum index
The Dow is a one-session market: nearly everything that matters happens between the 09:30 New York open and the 16:00 close. Master the opening range, know the macro windows, and get the point-value math right — because on US30 a "point" is not a "pip".
One cash session. A few decisive minutes.
US30 CFDs quote nearly around the clock, but real volume lives in the NYSE cash session. Inside it, a handful of time windows produce a disproportionate share of the day's displacement.
| Window | New York | UTC* | IST* | What usually happens |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-market drift | 04:00–09:30 | 09:00–14:30 | 14:30–20:00 | Thin CFD/futures trade builds the overnight range — the liquidity the open will attack. |
| Cash open + opening range | 09:30–10:30 | 14:30–15:30 | 20:00–21:00 | The first 30–60 minutes set the opening range. Breaks and fake-breaks of this range define most of the day's story. |
| Morning trend hours | 10:30–12:00 | 15:30–17:00 | 21:00–22:30 | If the open produced displacement, this is where it extends. Lunch (12:00–13:30 NY) then usually goes quiet. |
| Afternoon & close | 14:00–16:00 | 19:00–21:00 | 00:30–02:30 | Repricing after 2:00 PM news (FOMC days especially) and end-of-day positioning into the 16:00 close. |
Points, not pips
US30 is an index quoted in points. There is no "pip" — and confusing the two is how traders end up 10× oversized.
| Spec (US30 CFD) | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Quote unit | Index points | 1 point = 1.0 on the index (e.g. 39,000 → 39,001). Broker quotes may show one decimal. |
| 1 point · 1.00 lot | $1 (most brokers) | Most CFD brokers pay $1 per point per 1.00 lot — but some use $10 per point. Verify yours before your first trade. |
| 100-point move · 1.00 lot | $100 (at $1/pt) | A normal opening-hour swing. At a $10/point broker the same move is $1,000. |
| Typical intraday range | Hundreds of points | US30 routinely travels multi-hundred-point days — size for the range you're actually trading. |
| Spread | Variable | Widens at the cash open and around 8:30 AM / 2:00 PM NY news. Verify with your broker. |
| Margin / leverage | Broker-specific | Verify with your broker — index CFD leverage differs by regulator. |
Point ≠ pip — why it matters
In forex a pip is a fixed fraction of the quote (0.0001 on most pairs). On US30 the unit is a whole index point, and the dollar value of that point depends entirely on your broker's contract definition — $1/point and $10/point contracts both exist under the same "US30" name.
Place one tiny test trade, check the P&L per point, and only then size real positions. Never assume the spec transfers between brokers.
Worked example — 1% risk
Account $10,000, risking 1% = $100. Stop-loss 50 points beyond the opening-range extreme.
At $1/pt: size = $100 ÷ (50 × $1) = 2.00 lots
At $10/pt: size = $100 ÷ (50 × $10) = 0.20 lots
Same trade, 10× size difference — that's the whole point-vs-pip lesson. The position size calculator has a US30 preset.
How we trade US30
Indices are time-of-day markets. The edge isn't a secret pattern — it's knowing which minutes matter and having the structure marked when they arrive.
The open attacks the overnight range
The pre-market builds a range; the cash open usually runs one side of it before the real move. Frame the day as a dealing range — overnight high to overnight low — and let the open show you which side was the trap. Premium/discount then tells you whether you're chasing or buying value.
Midnight open & killzones
ICT Pro's indices preset (1m/5m) plots the midnight open, the NY killzone and the macro timing windows — the full time-of-day framework the Dow respects.
ICT Pro →Opening range breaks
First 30–60 minutes = the day's reference range. SMC SNIPER Part 2 includes an ORB module, and Part 1 marks whether the "break" swept liquidity or displaced with intent.
SMC Sniper →PDH / PDL raids
Prior-day and prior-week highs and lows are the Dow's favourite targets. Auto-marked levels with sweep markers show the raid the moment it completes.
SMC Sniper →News-window discipline
8:30 AM data and 2:00 PM FOMC statements reprice the index in seconds. Trade the structure that forms after the spike, not the spike itself.
Economic calendar →ICT Pro (indices preset, 1m/5m) + SMC SNIPER
ICT Pro is built for exactly this market: killzones, the midnight open, macro timing windows and nine named models graded by a 25-point confluence score. Pair it with SMC SNIPER on 5m–15m for the pure-structure view — inducement-validated swings, PDH/PDL sweep markers and graded order blocks — so every timing signal lands inside mapped structure.
Tools for index traders
Trade the open with the structure already marked
ICT Pro and SMC SNIPER plot the killzones, opening range and liquidity levels before the bell rings — so the decisive minutes find you prepared.