Opening Range Breakout
Opening Range Breakout (ORB) is an intraday strategy.
Opening Range Breakout (ORB) is an intraday strategy. It defines the "opening range" as the high and low of the first N minutes of the trading session, then enters a long trade when price closes above that range's high and exits when price closes below the range's low. It is one of the most widely used day-trading playbooks: the first few minutes set the day's initial battle lines, and a decisive break of them is treated as the day's directional bias.
Because the levels are anchored to the session open, ORB only makes sense on intraday candles (1M–15M). Run against daily candles it is meaningless — each day would be a single candle and the "opening range" would be the whole day.
How it trades
Per candle, ORB compares the close against the current session's opening-range boundaries:
| Ingredient | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ORHIGH(n) | Highest high of the first n minutes of the current trading session |
| ORLOW(n) | Lowest low of the first n minutes of the current trading session |
Buy (breakout):
Close > ORHIGH(30)
Sell (breakdown):
Close < ORLOW(30)
When it works best
Works best during active, liquid sessions where the opening range is a meaningful reflection of supply/demand and a break of it tends to follow through. Best used only during active sessions; in thin, choppy conditions the opening range is dominated by spread noise and false breaks are common. Widely used by day traders on liquid, high-volume names.
Backtest this strategy yourself
Build these rules on the Free plan, adjust them, and see how they would have traded.