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

  • #181
  • Feb 7, 2026 7:44am Feb 7, 2026 7:44am
Quoting aud
{quote} So you are combining the prior Asian and London sessions into "the dark grey block" and then trading any breakout that occurs during the first hour of the US session? Can I ask: The start of the US session is 8:00 NY time. (ie not Wall St open) Do you use the mid range line that you now have of the combined Asian and London sessions Which targets are you using Thx
Yes, you are absolutely correct!

The start of the New York session for indexes and the stock market is 9:30am EST.

The mid range line is just something I like to see but I'm observing it to see if there is any relevance there and if it can be used as another criteria for perfecting the strategy.
  • #182
  • Feb 9, 2026 12:56am Feb 9, 2026 12:56am
There are so many kinds of opening ranges that you could study.
I'll give you an example. BTCUSDT: Opening range of Saturday. You could just trade it on Sunday breakout from the range.
  • #183
  • Feb 9, 2026 1:07am Feb 9, 2026 1:07am
Thank you so much
thats a nice tread
  • #184
  • Feb 9, 2026 8:52am Feb 9, 2026 8:52am
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  • #185
  • Feb 9, 2026 10:04am Feb 9, 2026 10:04am
Happy Monday y'all! Weird start to the week. Got faked out of the Nasdaq with a short taken early in the session, but made up for it with bigger lots and targets with the S&P500 and Nasdaq longs. All done for the day!
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  • #186
  • Feb 9, 2026 10:05am Feb 9, 2026 10:05am
Quoting BDfx77
{image}
Nice one dude! I took that same trade!
  • #187
  • Edited 11:27am Feb 9, 2026 11:12am | Edited 11:27am
Quoting eadweardcap
Happy Monday y'all! Weird start to the week. Got faked out of the Nasdaq with a short taken early in the session, but made up for it with bigger lots and targets with the S&P500 and Nasdaq longs. All done for the day! {image}
Wow, 264 points loss on Nasdaq...As usual, I wish you well, but few more of those and you will stop trading. "Bigger lots and targets" mindfuck and self talk may create similar situation with larger losses....been there, I have seen 4-5 times in a row ranges did not work out.

Also it looks like a simple technique, there is much more to it, especially when revenge upping the lots and targets.

We talked about it and when you decide to stop taking losses at the other side of the range, I will point out some tips and techniques that I learned through the years.
  • #188
  • Feb 9, 2026 11:55am Feb 9, 2026 11:55am
Quoting driven18
{quote} Wow, 264 points loss on Nasdaq...As usual, I wish you well, but few more of those and you will stop trading. "Bigger lots and targets" mindfuck and self talk may create similar situation with larger losses....been there, I have seen 4-5 times in a row ranges did not work out. Also it looks like a simple technique, there is much more to it, especially when revenge upping the lots and targets. We talked about it and when you decide to stop taking losses at the other side of the range, I will point out some tips and techniques that I learned...
Yeah absolutely! I'm all ears on tips and techniques to avoid using the SL on the other side of the range. That's what the thread is for, so we can all learn from each other.
  • #189
  • Feb 9, 2026 5:53pm Feb 9, 2026 5:53pm
New Indicator Alert!

Hey guys so I've been working on an indicator for session break outs. I've finally put together a version that I like and that I feel confident enough to share with you guys. So check out the attached indicator!

I'm no coder so I think you might have to put it in your expert advisors folder. There are some instructions to it:

 

  1. If there is a session you don't want to see, just set the start and end times to zero (00:00)
  2. "Session for BO" is the session that you want to measure for a break out. (So let's say you want to measure the U.S. session initial balance, you enter 16:30 in "Session_for_BO_Start" and 17:29 in "Session_for_BO_End")
  3. IMPORTANT the "Session for BO End" needs to be 1 minute before the session end time. So for example the initial balance is the first hour of the trading session right? Let's use the U.S. as an example. That would be technically from 16:30 to 17:30. BUT, by giving MQL5 the time stamp of 17:30 the code will wait for the 17:30 candle to close and measure the whole high and low of that candle. So if you want to correctly measure the high and low of the first hour the "Session for BO End" will need to be 17:29.

Oh! And there are alerts when price breaks above or below the session highs or lows.

Let me know what you guys think!

Attached File(s)
File Type: ex5 Ead_Weard_Capital_SBO.ex5   151 KB | 95 downloads
  • #190
  • Feb 10, 2026 12:12pm Feb 10, 2026 12:12pm
Good afternoon all! Weird day today! Only one profitable position which was a Dow Jones long. I did get stopped out of a Nasdaq short and I'm currently into S&P500 and Nasdaq longs. Still having trouble with execution times, but I think its more of a CPU problem rather than an EA problem.
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  • #191
  • Edited 1:50pm Feb 10, 2026 1:29pm | Edited 1:50pm
I deleted a post sharing tips and my experience. One of the people who red it, reached out to me and asked for help to implement my techniques with this person trading. I know he is a hard worker and I believe in 3 weeks he will be very happy with my teachings outcome.

I am signing off from here, it is a loosing technique the way it is being traded right now. Cheers
  • #192
  • Feb 10, 2026 2:15pm Feb 10, 2026 2:15pm
Ooooooooookay
  • #193
  • Edited 3:09pm Feb 10, 2026 2:59pm | Edited 3:09pm
I sometimes wonder what is going on in Forex Factory - I really do. More juvenile ego's than I can cope with, and most of them can't spell.

Stick with it @eadweardcap even if you tweak stuff along the way, you are keeping your head down and getting on with it, and as any trader will know, what works for some doesn't work for others. Those that are wise here - know this. I have tweaked what I am doing to a 15 min ORB, so about half way between a full 1 hour ORB and what you are doing - but I know I have more work to do. I have done this because you and others are an inspiration and even if this is just the start of that journey, it feels like a worthwhile one.
  • #194
  • Feb 10, 2026 9:29pm Feb 10, 2026 9:29pm
Quoting driven18
I deleted a post sharing tips and my experience. One of the people who red it, reached out to me and asked for help to implement my techniques with this person trading. I know he is a hard worker and I believe in 3 weeks he will be very happy with my teachings outcome. I am signing off from here, it is a loosing technique the way it is being traded right now. Cheers
goodbye
  • #195
  • Feb 11, 2026 7:39am Feb 11, 2026 7:39am
Indicator Update:

Hey guys while using the indicator yesterday I realized that the price labels were inverted and incorrect. So the levels above the session or IB high were displaying the low levels and vice versa. See image below:

Attached Image (click to enlarge)
Click to Enlarge Name: Screenshot 2026-02-11 at 8.27.20 AM.png Size: 9 KB


The new version fixes that problem and price labels are correct now:

Attached Image (click to enlarge)
Click to Enlarge Name: Screenshot 2026-02-11 at 8.29.43 AM.png Size: 11 KB
Attached File(s)
File Type: ex5 Ead_Weard_Capital_SBO_02.ex5   150 KB | 86 downloads
  • #196
  • Feb 11, 2026 10:42am Feb 11, 2026 10:42am
Quoting eadweardcap
Indicator Update:
Hi mate. What are your thoughts on 15 min orbs?
  • #197
  • Feb 11, 2026 11:10am Feb 11, 2026 11:10am
Quoting StonebankS1
{quote} Hi mate. What are your thoughts on 15 min orbs?
15 minute open range break outs? What exactly do you mean? Could you expand a little?
  • #198
  • Feb 11, 2026 11:19am Feb 11, 2026 11:19am
Quoting StonebankS1
{quote} Hi mate. What are your thoughts on 15 min orbs?
Hi StoneBank

If you haven't done so go check out the price Bob thread. by Vidvad.

Fair amount of talk and material regarding orb trades
Master your Mind,,,Master the Market
  • #199
  • Feb 11, 2026 11:20am Feb 11, 2026 11:20am
Quoting eadweardcap
{quote} 15 minute open range break outs? What exactly do you mean? Could you expand a little?
15 minute opening range breakouts is similar to your 1 hour initial balance strategy, but probably a bit less complex than yours.

I was intrigued by your thread, learnt a lot. I trade another strategy (Trading made simple(r) by RobinHood on this same forum), but i noticed that some of the indicators provided by him, plus other personal approaches are compatible with your strategy, but even more with 15 orbs.

I mainly trade stocks on 3m TF, but i have been looking back at some stocks i trade, plus the SP index, and although i haven't made extensive backtest, at least it looks very interesting.
  • #200
  • Feb 11, 2026 11:20am Feb 11, 2026 11:20am
Quoting bluesteele
{quote} Hi StoneBank If you haven't done so go check out the price Bob thread. by Vidvad. Fair amount of talk and material regarding orb trades
Thank you! I definitely will!
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