Analytics

How to Read and Use the Time Heatmap

Guide to interpreting your time-of-day and day-of-week performance heatmap for schedule optimisation.

The Time Heatmap shows your trading performance broken down by hour and day of the week. It is one of the quickest ways to identify when you should—and should not—be trading.

Accessing the Heatmap

Navigate to Analytics then Time Analysis. The heatmap loads automatically with your full trade history.

Understanding the Grid

The grid has days of the week on the vertical axis and hours on the horizontal axis. Each cell is coloured by performance:

Deep green: Strong positive performance in this slot

Light green: Slightly profitable

Grey/neutral: Breakeven or insufficient data

Light red: Slightly negative

Deep red: Consistently unprofitable

Opacity

Cells with fewer than 10 trades appear at reduced opacity. These slots lack sufficient data for reliable conclusions—do not make schedule changes based on them.

Choosing Your Metric

Use the dropdown to switch between:

Average R-Multiple: Risk-adjusted returns per slot (recommended)

Win Rate: Simple percentage of winners

Net P&L: Raw profit and loss

Trade Count: How many trades you take per slot (useful for spotting overtrading)

Expectancy: Expected value per trade

Identifying Your Optimal Window

Look for the cluster of deep green cells—this is your money-making window. For most traders, it spans 2-4 hours. Everything outside this window is either breakeven or negative.

Steps

1Note the hours with consistently green cells across multiple days

2These form your primary trading window

3Note any hours that are consistently red—these are your restricted hours

4Create a trading rule: "I will only take new trades during [green hours]"

Day-of-Week Patterns

Examine each row (day) for patterns:

Monday: Many traders perform poorly as they adjust to the new week

Wednesday: Often shows strong performance due to mid-week catalysts

Friday: Frequently negative, particularly Friday afternoons

Applying Filters

Use filters to refine the analysis:

By strategy: Different strategies may peak at different times

By instrument: ES futures might perform best in the morning while NQ performs best in the afternoon

By direction: Your longs might work in the morning while shorts work in the afternoon

Setting Up Schedule Alerts

In Settings then Notifications, configure:

"Warn me when I attempt to trade outside my optimal window"

"Alert me when I have taken more than X trades in a red-zone hour"

"Remind me to stop at [end of optimal window]"

Monthly Review

Each month, regenerate the heatmap with the last 3 months of data. Markets evolve, and your optimal window may shift with seasonal changes, daylight saving adjustments, or changes in your personal schedule.

For the full guide to time-based performance analysis, read our blog post on [Time Heatmap: Finding Your Optimal Trading Hours](/blog/time-heatmap-optimal-trading-hours).