Opening Range Breakout Strategy (ORB)
Trade the opening range breakout: first 15/30 minutes of the session as the setup. Rules, filters, targets.
The opening range premise
The first 15 or 30 minutes of the US session tend to produce a range that reflects overnight news, pre-market positioning, and initial price discovery. When price breaks out of that range, the direction often carries for the rest of the session because institutional flows have declared themselves.
Rules
Mark the high and low of the first 30 minutes (9:30–10:00 ET on ES/NQ). Go long on a break above the range high with volume, or short on a break below the range low. Stop on the opposite side of the range. Target: at minimum 1x the range height projected from breakout.
Filters that keep you out of bad setups
Skip ORBs on FOMC/CPI days — price whips the range 3+ times. Skip ORBs when the range is unusually small (under 50% of average) or unusually large (over 200% of average) — both distort the signal. Best ORB days: normal-volatility sessions with a clean directional bias overnight.