OPEN / BREAKOUT
ORB · Opening Range Breakout
Define the opening range and evaluate a confirmed breakout with an explicit session, stop and cancellation rule.
What is the opening range?
ORB means Opening Range Breakout. Mark the high and low of a fixed opening window, such as the first 5, 15 or 30 minutes of a session. Define instrument, exchange time and daylight-saving handling. Do not adjust the window after seeing the day unfold.
Entry: close or retest
Illustrative variant: the first 15 minutes establish the range, then an M5 candle must close outside it. Consider longs above the high and shorts below the low. Test a close-based entry separately from a successful-retest entry; they are different setups.
Invalidation and profit-taking
A retest long may use the confirmed retest low as its stop; a direct breakout requires its own tested stop rule. Predefine a target or trail and a session time exit. If the breakout fails, follow the invalidation rule rather than averaging down.
Filters and reasons to skip
An unusually wide range can make the stop unaffordable; an extremely narrow one may leave costs dominant. Mark scheduled news and your predefined trading window. Limit attempts per direction to avoid repeatedly reacting to false breaks.
Challenge fit
The open can widen spreads and increase slippage. Check news restrictions and daily risk allowance before the range completes. A stop-loss does not guarantee execution at the selected price during a fast move.
Illustration, not a forecast: the 15-minute range spans 100–104. After a close above it, a retest holds 104; hypothetical entry 104.5 and stop 103.5 imply one point of initial risk before costs. A planned 2R target would be 106.5; testing must establish whether that variant has an edge.
Before you trade
- Fix session, time zone and range length.
- Define breakout and retest separately.
- Check range width, news and daily risk.
Common mistakes
- Move the opening range retrospectively.
- Count every tick outside as confirmation.
- Keep retrying false breaks without an attempt limit.
RESEARCH & RULE CHECKS
Our examples are editorial planning frameworks. CME explains the relationship between stop distance and position size. FTMO illustrates why daily, overall and consistency rules must be read separately for the specific account.
FXOpen / Opening Range Breakout ↗CME / Position sizing ↗FTMO / Trading objectives ↗Continue building your process.
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Follow established trends with a defined direction filter, bounded losses and a preplanned method for trailing winners.
Open playbook ↗ICT / POWER OF THREEAMD · Accumulation, Manipulation, Distribution
ICT’s Power of Three framework: make consolidation, a possible false break and subsequent expansion observable and testable.
Open playbook ↗TREND / PULLBACKTrend Pullback · trade the retracement
Define a retracement, an invalidation point and when to stay out.
Open playbook ↗