The opening range breakout, or ORB, is one of the best-known intraday setups. You take the high and low of the first few minutes after a session opens — often the first 5, 15 or 30 minutes — and treat that as the opening range. A break beyond it is your trade trigger.
Why the open matters
The open is when overnight news and orders hit the market at once, so it often sets the day's directional tone. The opening range captures that initial fight between buyers and sellers, and the side that wins the break frequently carries momentum into the session.
Entry, stop and target
Enter on a break of the range — either the breakout candle's close or a retest of the broken edge. Place the stop on the opposite side of the opening range, since price trading back through it invalidates the idea. Targets are often a fixed reward multiple or the next daily level such as the previous day's high or low.
- Define the range from the first 5–30 minutes after the open.
- Entry: a break of the range high (long) or low (short).
- Stop: the opposite side of the opening range.
- Beware the failed break — a tight range can whipsaw both edges.
The opening range breakout trades the day's first decision — enter on the break, and let the far side of the range define your risk.