Which day of the week do the Nasdaq, gold and crude move the most?

A little, and there's a pattern: Monday is the quietest day, especially in gold (0.84× a normal day), and Thursday the busiest in the Nasdaq (1.05×) and gold (1.10×). Crude barely changes across the week. Next to a Fed day, none of this is big.

We measured 4,856 sessions of Micro Nasdaq, Micro Gold and Micro Crude: each session's range (high minus low) against the median of the 20 sessions before it, so calm and wild years count the same. 1.00× is a normal day for that market at that time.

Range by weekday, all days

Median range as a multiple of the 20 previous sessions. Highlighted: each market's busiest day; faded: the quietest.

The same, without CPI, jobs and Fed days

What it means

• Monday is quieter. 0.93× in the Nasdaq, 0.84× in gold and 0.96× in crude. One likely reason (a hypothesis, not something we measured): weekend news gets priced in overnight, before the main session opens.
• Thursday is the busiest in the Nasdaq and gold, about 13% more than Monday in the Nasdaq, with or without news days. It's a real but small difference.
• Jobs report Fridays move gold. Gold's Friday drops from 1.09× to 1.00× when news days are removed: the first Friday of the month carries the week.
• The Nasdaq's Wednesday is the Fed's. It drops from 1.02× to 0.95× without news days: Fed statements almost always come out on a Wednesday.
• Crude is the same every day (between 0.96× and 1.01×), even on Wednesdays with the EIA report.
• Choose your days by calendar, not by weekday. The half hour after a Fed statement moves 2.8 times as much as normal (see CPI, jobs and Fed days): that's where the real difference is.

Educational content based on our own experience. Not investment advice. Firm rules change: check them on each firm's website. This article contains no affiliate links.