I'm often asked how one should study a market, so here are some thoughts:

Studying a market is different, from learning how to trade.

Learning how to trade includes everything from managing risk to managing yourself.

Studying a market is simply the process of looking for an edge.

Once you have identified an edge, you still have to learn to trade it.

The best way to study a market is to watch it as closely as you can but always using a frame of reference.

You should pick a frame of reference and exhaust its possibilities.

For example, you could use a time-based approach.

You could study how the market moves at certain times of the day, week or month.

I knew of one trader who made his money (and he made a lot of it) by studying specifically how the ES behaved at the end of each month. His entire edge was created around this.

I know of another successful trader who focused exclusively on the 8am open in FTSE futures.