The Opening Range (OR) has been around since the CME floor days. Traditionally, traders used the first 30 sec of RTH as the OR high/low. Many still use this, but when I moved from ES → NQ as my primary market, I had to adapt. Here’s how my 5-min... OR Mid setup evolved 🧵show more

I originally tried using the 30-sec OR in NQ the same way I did in ES—long above, short below. But NQ's opening volatility made it too whippy. And as someone prone to overtrading, I needed to slow down. So, I switched to the 5-min OR for better context.

At first, the 5-min OR was just contextual—did we break one side, both sides, or just go? Not a strict long above / short below strategy, but a way to read the market's opening behavior. Then, I added the midpoint of the OR into my analysis… and found something really useful.

I noticed the OR mid acted as a strong retest level. After a break of the OR, price often retested the mid before continuing in the breakout direction. So, I started tracking it and live trading it. Turns out, it became one of my A+ setups.

Benefits of this approach. - It forces you to trade inside-out instead of chasing highs/lows. - It aligns with early session market expansion instead of fading moves. - It provides structured entries instead of impulse trades.

Here’s how I trade it. Wait for the 5-min OR to form. Watch for a break above or below (not necessarily a full close). Look for some volume build above/below to confirm interest. This “activates” the trade idea.

Example: Once the trade is “activated,” I wait for a retest of the OR mid. I don’t treat this as a "to-the-tick" level—it's a zone. My execution? Order flow confirms the entry

Profit Targets: OR High 75% of OR range extension 100% of OR range extension Back testing showed a sweet spot between 70-100% of the OR range for TP.

Stop Loss: Back test used the other side of the OR (~30 pts avg range, ~15pt stop from mid). In practice, I often cut earlier if order flow shows weakness.

The Data Supports It I won’t share every test (do your own work), but here’s a key stat: Longs ONLY, no other side break: OR mid retested 3 profit targets (OR High, 75% Ext, 100% Ext) The data shows positive expectancy over time.

This setup didn’t happen overnight—it evolved over years of being a constant student of the market. Going from 30-sec OR breakout → 5-min OR for context → Adding OR mid → Back testing & refining took time.

If you want to test this for yourself: Define your own rules & back test it.

I’m sharing my work because I’ve talked about this setup enough that I figured I might as well post some data on it and how I trade it. Hope this helps! 🚀

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