CRTLAB Answers · measured, not opinion

Which day of the week makes the weekly high or low?

Name: Which Day Makes the Weekly High or Low? 4,767 Weeks Measured
Creator: CRTLAB
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Answered with real trades on 13 markets of CRTLAB's own price history, 2017–2026. The rules were fixed before any result was seen, and every one of them is on this page.

The answer

Monday and Friday — 55.6% of weekly highs and 58.3% of weekly lows across 4,767 weeks. But the same weeks with their days shuffled into a random order give 58.5% and 57.7%: the Monday/Friday pattern is the arithmetic of the week's two ends, not market behaviour.

Weeks measured4,767

High on Mon or Fri55.6%

Shuffled-week control58.5%

Low on Tue–Thu41.8%

Measured 2 November 2026 · data to 19 October 2026Replay a week on NAS100

The short answer

A week's high or low lands at one of its ends far more often than in the middle in ANY random sequence (the arcsine law): a price that drifts away keeps setting new extremes at the end, and one that drifts back leaves them at the start. The shuffled control keeps each day's own move, high and low and only randomises the order, so the difference between the two columns is the only part that belongs to the weekday.

Each weekday against the control

Share of weeks whose high, and whose low, printed on each day. Full five-day weeks only, so every day has the same chance.

Day	Weekly high	Control	Weekly low	Control
Monday	24.9%	26.3%	32.5%	32.0%
Tuesday	14.0%	14.0%	13.8%	14.9%
Wednesday	14.0%	12.9%	12.3%	13.2%
Thursday	16.3%	14.6%	15.7%	14.2%
Friday	30.7%	32.2%	25.8%	25.7%

Every market

Weekly high and low by day, market by market. The pattern is the same shape everywhere because the arithmetic is the same everywhere.

Market	Weeks	High Mon	High Fri	Low Mon	Low Fri	Mon/Fri control (high)
Nasdaq 100	416	17.1%	37.7%	38.2%	21.9%	59.8%
S&P 500	416	17.3%	39.2%	35.1%	24.5%	60.1%
Dow Jones (US30)	416	20.2%	35.6%	33.7%	25.2%	59.3%
DAX (GER40)	75	26.7%	30.7%	26.7%	25.3%	58.4%
Gold (XAU/USD)	403	24.8%	31.0%	32.8%	23.1%	58.4%
Silver (XAG/USD)	401	26.2%	31.2%	30.4%	24.9%	57.0%
Crude oil (WTI)	418	30.1%	29.2%	35.2%	20.3%	60.0%
EUR/USD	444	29.3%	23.6%	27.0%	32.4%	57.5%
GBP/USD	444	26.8%	25.5%	27.5%	31.3%	58.1%
USD/JPY	444	22.3%	34.0%	35.6%	25.2%	59.0%
AUD/USD	445	25.4%	24.9%	25.8%	29.9%	58.2%
Bitcoin	223	30.0%	27.8%	39.0%	26.0%	55.3%
Ethereum	222	36.5%	26.1%	36.9%	22.1%	56.6%

What this means for your trading

"Tuesday makes the low of the week" style rules are not supported: mid-week days print the week's extremes about as often as shuffled days do.
The week's high and low print on the same day only 3.0% of the time.
Whatever edge a weekly profile has comes from reading the week as it unfolds — which is exactly what replay practises.

Test it yourself

NAS100 on the 1-hour chart with last week's high and low drawn. Start on a Monday and replay the week one candle at a time. The chart opens in your browser with nothing to install — 10,000 candles free, no card. Replay a week on NAS100.

How we measured it

CRTLAB's own 5-minute price history, 3 January 2017 to 19 October 2026, on 13 markets: Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, Dow Jones (US30), DAX (GER40), Gold (XAU/USD), Silver (XAG/USD), Crude oil (WTI), EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, AUD/USD, Bitcoin, Ethereum (DAX (GER40) from 2025, Bitcoin from 2022, Ethereum from 2022). A trading day runs 18:00 to 17:00 New York and carries the date it ends on; Monday to Friday only, and a day counts only if it is complete (half-holidays are left out).

The week's high and low are the highest high and lowest low of its five trading days (18:00 Sunday to 17:00 Friday New York). Weeks with a holiday are left out.

THE CONTROL. Each week's five days keep their own move and their own high and low relative to their open, and are re-chained in a random order twenty times; where the week's high and low land is counted. If a weekday really mattered, it would beat its control.

Every rule was fixed before any result was seen.

Frequently asked questions

Which day of the week makes the weekly high or low?

Does Tuesday make the low of the week?

Tuesday printed the weekly low in 13.8% of 4,767 weeks, against 14.9% in shuffled weeks.

Is the Monday high or low of the week real?

Monday printed the week's high in 24.9% of weeks and its low in 32.5%; shuffled weeks give 26.3% and 32.0%. Monday is busy because it is the start of the week, not because it is Monday.

→RelatedAll answers

Does the ICT Silver Bullet work?No edge on its own. Across 46,392 Silver Bullet trades on 13 markets since 2017, the setup averaged +0.02R a trade in the AM window — breakeven before spread and commission.What time is the high or low of the day made?Between 08:00 and 12:00 New York. Those four hours printed the day's high or low 27.8% of the time across 27,187 trading days — about 2.2× what the same hours would get if the day's moves came in a random order (12.5%).Is the ICT Judas swing real?Not on average. The first move after midnight New York pointed the OPPOSITE way to the day's move on only 43.0% of 26,125 days — it continued more often than it reversed, in every one of 13 markets. After a large early move, the day went the same way 74.0% of the time.Does the opening range breakout work?Slightly, before costs. Trading the first break of the 09:30–09:45 New York range — stop at the other side, held to 16:00 — averaged +0.09R ± 0.01 a trade over 26,894 trades, and was positive on 13 of 13 markets. The win rate is low; the edge comes from the days that run.How often do gaps fill on the Nasdaq, S&P 500 and Dow?58.4% of opening gaps on the Nasdaq 100, S&P 500 and Dow filled the same day, across 6,984 gaps since 2017 — 82.0% of small ones (under 0.25%) but only 22.8% of gaps over 1%. A level the same distance on the other side was reached 55.5% of the time, so gaps fill a little more than chance, not much.How often is the previous week's high or low taken?87.6% of weeks took last week's high or low, across 4,005 weeks since 2017: the high 52.5%, the low 44.8%, both 9.8%. When it was taken, it was most often on Monday — 51.7% of the weeks that took the high.Does price return to the midnight open?About as often as it reaches any level the same distance away. From 08:30 New York, price came back to the midnight open on 58.2% of 25,401 days by 16:00 — and reached a mirror level, the same distance on the other side, on 58.3%. The midnight open is not a magnet; it is reached because it is close.Do ICT macros work?No more than the time around them. Across 214,928 macro windows on 13 markets since 2017, a macro moved 0.98× as much as the same-length windows just before and after it, and out-moved both neighbours about a third of the time — what chance gives.Does yesterday's daily candle predict today's?Barely. After an up day, the next day closed up 50.5% of the time; after a down day, 53.8% — against 52.1% for every day, across 26,801 days on 13 markets. If anything, a down day is followed by a slightly better chance of an up day, not a down one.Does London sweep the Asian range and reverse?Usually not. After London (02:00–05:00 New York) took one side of the Asian range, price went on to the other side first on 41.1% of 9,037 days, and ran a full Asian range further the same way first on 44.7%. Both levels are the same distance away, so a reversal pattern would show the first number well ahead; it is behind, on 11 of 13 markets.What time does gold make its high or low of the day?Most often between 08:00 and 12:00 New York. Those four hours printed gold's high or low of the day 31.3% of the time across 2,429 trading days since 2017, 2.5× what the same hours get when each day's hours are shuffled into a random order (12.6%). The strongest single hour was 09:00–10:00.Does the 8:30 news candle show the direction of the day?It is big, but it does not tell you the day's direction. The 08:30 New York candle averaged 1.8× the range of the candles around it (3.7× on jobs-report Fridays), yet the 08:30–09:00 move pointed the same way as the rest of the US day on only 49.4% of 26,239 days, against 49.9% for the same test an hour earlier. A coin gives 50%.Does the London open set the direction for the day?No. The first hour of London (02:00–03:00 New York) pointed the same way as the rest of the London and New York morning on 50.1% of 26,246 days — a coin flip, and the same as the hour before London opens (50.1%). Following it averaged 0.00R ± 0.01 a trade.Does the opening range breakout work on gold?On gold, slightly, before costs. Trading the first break of the 09:30–09:45 New York range — stop at the other side, held to 16:00 — averaged +0.12R ± 0.04 a trade over 2,394 trades since 2017, number 4 of 13 markets tested. With a 2R target it averaged +0.09R ± 0.03.What time does EUR/USD make its high or low of the day?Most often between 08:00 and 12:00 New York. Those four hours printed EUR/USD's high or low of the day 29.5% of the time across 2,478 trading days since 2017, 2.4× what the same hours get when each day's hours are shuffled into a random order (12.5%). The strongest single hour was 10:00–11:00.Previous day high & low statisticsFree tool Average daily rangeFree tool

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