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Why Smart Traders Watch the First Hour (Initial Balance Guide)

  • #121
  • Jan 5, 2026 2:56pm Jan 5, 2026 2:56pm
Happy New Year guys! Here are today's trades fueled by the Venezuelan news over the weekend. This is a new personal account that I plan on taking from 0 to 100 this year using IB strategy with some modifications along the way.
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  • #122
  • Jan 6, 2026 9:04am Jan 6, 2026 9:04am
Good morning everyone! Here are today's trades. I am all done for the day!
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  • #123
  • Jan 7, 2026 10:52am Jan 7, 2026 10:52am
Today's trades on U.S. indexes. You might say "oh there was money left on the table" and yes, there was. But as mentioned before, I go for relatively small yet high probability targets. I'm in, I'm out, I meet my own self-imposed "quota" and that's it. Now off to lunch!
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  • #124
  • Jan 8, 2026 5:35am Jan 8, 2026 5:35am
Thank you. So, you are scalping now?
  • #125
  • Jan 8, 2026 7:48am Jan 8, 2026 7:48am
Quoting HDPaulius
Thank you. So, you are scalping now?
Same trades as always.
  • #126
  • Jan 8, 2026 11:54am Jan 8, 2026 11:54am
S&P 500 took some time today but hit my TP. Nasdaq and Dow Jones also provided profits.
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  • #127
  • Jan 8, 2026 1:52pm Jan 8, 2026 1:52pm
Hi @ Eadweardcap, Enjoying this thread. I have a question, the attached screenshot shows my chart at 9pm (my server time) today on the Nasdaq 5 min. I have also displayed a live EST time to demonstrate that my server time is 7 hours ahead of EST. Therefore the IB (I think) starts at 16:30 server time, which is 09:30 EST. The IB is shown on my chart starting at 16:30 server time, but this seems to be one hour after your IB.

I am interested because you are obviously getting good results, but have I got something wrong in my interpretation of when the IB is actually measured to an from. My understanding is that it is first hour of trading after market open (09:30 - 10:30).

Thanks
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  • #128
  • Jan 8, 2026 2:23pm Jan 8, 2026 2:23pm
Quoting rogerha
Hi @ Eadweardcap, Enjoying this thread. I have a question, the attached screenshot shows my chart at 9pm (my server time) today on the Nasdaq 5 min. I have also displayed a live EST time to demonstrate that my server time is 7 hours ahead of EST. Therefore the IB (I think) starts at 16:30 server time, which is 09:30 EST. The IB is shown on my chart starting at 16:30 server time, but this seems to be one hour after your IB. I am interested because you are obviously getting good results, but have I got something wrong in my interpretation of when...
Hey Roger! Thanks for commenting and for reading the thread. So, your image looks correct, and yeah on my server time the U.S. session starts at 16:30. I measure the IB from 16:30 to 17:29. I had that problem before because I don't want the high or low of the 17:30 candle (wether it's M1 or M30 timeframe), I want to start trading AT 17:30pm, so the last high or low I want to see is the 17:29 candle. Maybe that will help?
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  • #129
  • Jan 8, 2026 2:29pm Jan 8, 2026 2:29pm
Thanks mate for the prompt response. I am also glad that we are aligned and that I have understood correctly. I guess my confusion came from the fact you marked a trade in the NQ today which perhaps means I am not understanding entry criteria. I figured that a valid break of the IB short and a valid short trade, would be a run down past the 25412 level which IMO was the low of the IB. Your trade seemed to come sooner than that which I don't quite understand.
  • #130
  • Jan 8, 2026 2:33pm Jan 8, 2026 2:33pm
Quoting rogerha
Thanks mate for the prompt response. I am also glad that we are aligned and that I have understood correctly. I guess my confusion came from the fact you marked a trade in the NQ today which perhaps means I am not understanding entry criteria. I figured that a valid break of the IB short and a valid short trade, would be a run down past the 25412 level which IMO was the low of the IB. Your trade seemed to come sooner than that which I don't quite understand.
Oh! Yeah I mean i'm trying something a little different:
https://www.forexfactory.com/thread/...9#post15516739

Basically just trading the open instead of the initial balance. There's more movement at the open that fills my 10 and 5 pip daily goal.
  • #131
  • Jan 8, 2026 2:45pm Jan 8, 2026 2:45pm
Makes sense - you seem to be trading well, I hope it continues for you.
  • #132
  • Jan 8, 2026 2:50pm Jan 8, 2026 2:50pm
Quoting rogerha
Makes sense - you seem to be trading well, I hope it continues for you.
Thank you! Keep following the thread and reaching out if you have any questions, suggestions, comments, or anything!
  • #133
  • Jan 9, 2026 9:39am Jan 9, 2026 9:39am
Weekly trading report. Up +18% on this account. I'd like to note that I mix the break out strategy with a dollar-cost-averaging strategy.
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NFP news today moved the markets around way too much for my taste. The EA did it's job and triggered sell orders but I wasn't convinced of the move and did not want to spend the morning monitoring losses. Closed out those positions and finished for today. Thank god too! One of the modifications that this strategy needs is to not trade on high impact news.
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  • #134
  • Jan 9, 2026 10:36am Jan 9, 2026 10:36am
A bit off topic but one of my most recent DCA positions just closed. Dow Jones made an ATH this week that quickly reversed, I set a pending order on the grid and it just closed this morning.
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  • #135
  • Jan 12, 2026 8:39am Jan 12, 2026 8:39am
Done for the day! TP on all three U.S. indexes. I didn't feel comfortable shorting the Dow Jones, so I shrunk down the TP to a smaller target and let it hit.
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  • #136
  • Jan 12, 2026 9:56am Jan 12, 2026 9:56am
Forgot to turn off the EA and took another TP going long on Dow Jones. NOW I'm done for the day.
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  • #137
  • Jan 13, 2026 9:44am Jan 13, 2026 9:44am
Shorting U.S. markets today. TP hit on S&P500 and Dow Jones. Manual close on the Nasdaq position. Price is just dancing around at the 25662 - 25710 price so I just closed it for my own mental peace.
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  • #138
  • Jan 14, 2026 9:53am Jan 14, 2026 9:53am
Today's trades that hit profit. Only on S&P500 and Nasdaq.
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  • #139
  • Jan 15, 2026 1:03pm Jan 15, 2026 1:03pm
Slow day for S&P500 and Nasdaq indexes after some serious bullish movement during the Asia and UK sessions. But the Dow Jones provided a TP on yesterday's session break out, a TP on today's session break out AND closed my dollar cost averaging position.
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  • #140
  • Jan 19, 2026 10:45am Jan 19, 2026 10:45am
Hey everyone! Traveled on Friday and today is a bank Holiday in the U.S. so here are last week's trades. Yes, I did take a loss on Friday.
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