While Nasdaq early trading opens at 4am, few investors have access to the platform so early and liquidity is usually poor.
7am and 8am ET are when early trading facilities of big U.S. brokerages open, the margin call and other early trades usually accelerate at those timestamps. (13:00 and 14:00 central European time.)
So the early trading volume distribution is usually:
- 4am-7am: low volume
- 7am-8am: moderate volume
- 8am-9:30am: moderate to high volume
FWIIW, yesterday 7am-8am there was a weak bear attempt trying to push from $510 and getting to $507, only to be blown away by the 8am bullish price action.
(Or it might have been a clever and cheap head fake by a bullish fund, or a pessimistic investor. We'll never know.
)