have midday (12:00 P.M.

) closings on business days preeeding federal holidays and three-day

weekends. Table 4-1 depiets the priee and open interest ehanges for Monday, Oetober 9, 1989. This
day was Columbus Day in the Uni ted States, Thanksgiving Day in Canada, and Yom Kippur
throughout the world. The Federal Reserve Bank was closed but the exehanges were open in the Uni
ted States. With the exeeption of the British pound; volume was low in all eight financial instruments
surveyed, and all of the markets witnessed signifieant (five or more minimum priee ties) priee
ehanges exeept for the deutsehemark eontraet, whieh finished unehanged. Open interest declined
in all six of the markets that eould be analyzed. Even though the rule for a healthy priee trend eould
be applied only in its most minute form (one day), the declining open interest meant that the priee
ehanges that trading session should not be the direetion of the major priee trend.

The premise is that open interest changes can still be used to test Jo r the direction oJ the major
price trend du ring holiday trading . . Table 4-1 also presents the priee ehanges the following session,
Tuesday, Oetober 10, 1989. The general rule ean be tested: Did the priee ehanges oeeur in what
would be expected to be the direction of the minor price trend? Yes or No answers are noted. The
outeome of this particular experiment is ineonclusive; three Yes versus three No answers resulted.
This, however, does not mean the analysis was unimportant. Analysis of this type gains significance
when it is extended over several trading sessions, shown in Chapter 6, "Developing a Discipliried
Approach," where the analysis is expanded to five trading sessions using both volume and open
interest ehanges.