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Pattern 18 of 18: all patterns
Classic reversals
  1. Double top and double bottom
  2. Triple top and triple bottom
  3. Head and shoulders
Consolidation breakouts
  1. Ascending triangle
  2. Descending triangle
  3. Symmetrical triangle
  4. Rising wedge and falling wedge
  5. Rectangle
  6. Bull flag and bear flag
  7. Bull pennant and bear pennant
Harmonic patterns
  1. AB=CD
  2. Gartley
  3. Bat
  4. Butterfly
  5. Crab
Smart money concepts
  1. Order block after a break of structure
  2. Liquidity sweep and fair value gap
Session patterns
  1. Opening range breakout
Session patterns  ·  Pattern 18 of 18

Opening range breakout

Breakout, either directionAlso called: ORB

The high and low of the first 15 minutes after a major market opens form the opening range. The first five-minute close outside it, within two hours, is the breakout.

What it shows

The open brings a burst of orders from the overnight news. The first range shows where that first wave of trading settled. A close outside it shows which side the session is leaning to.

How the scanner finds it
  • Two opens a day: London (03:00 New York time) and New York (09:30). The scanner watches both on every market.
  • The range is the high and low of the first 15 minutes. At least 60% of its candles must have traded.
  • Only the first close outside the range counts. One breakout per open per day.
opening rangeopenEntryStop134
An idealized drawing. The numbers are the alert stages; the shaded boxes are the textbook stop and target.

How the alerts work for this pattern

  1. 1
    Forming

    The range is set. The scanner shows the two prices: above the high, or below the low.

  2. 3
    Close to signaling

    A close comes near one edge.

  3. 4
    Time to act

    A five-minute candle closes outside the range.

  4. x
    Cancelled

    No close outside the range within two hours.

The textbook trade

Trigger
A five-minute close outside the range.
Stop
The middle of the range.
Target
None by default; textbook versions hold to a time or trail the stop.

Things to watch

  • Most ranges break within minutes, so the warning is short. Set your plan when the range is set.
  • Scheduled news right after the open (US data often comes at 08:30 or 10:00 NY time) can whip through both sides.
Where it comes from

Toby Crabel, Day Trading with Short Term Price Patterns and Opening Range Breakout (1990). Mark B. Fisher builds a full method around the opening range in The Logical Trader (2002).

On our charts

Real detections by the scanner on our own price data (2026-08-01 to 2026-10-19), with the alerts it sent. Times are New York time. Some worked and some did not.

GBPUSD5-minute chart2026-10-19Opening range breakoutNeither in 8 hours
1.32951.33051.33151.33261.333610-19 08:3010-19 10:1510-19 12:0010-19 13:4510-19 15:3010-19 17:15E 1.3316S 1.33241345
The alerts it sent
  1. 1Forming2026-10-19 09:45 NYthe range is set: above 1.3329 or below 1.3319
  2. 3Close to signaling2026-10-19 10:00 NYclose to 1.3329
  3. 4Time to act2026-10-19 10:15 NYbroke out at 1.3316, stop 1.3324
  4. 5Result2026-10-19 18:15 NYtime
US1005-minute chart2026-10-19Opening range breakoutHit the stop
29455.929500.729545.629590.529635.410-19 02:0010-19 03:1010-19 04:2010-19 05:3010-19 06:4010-19 07:50E 29536.7S 29574.3145
The alerts it sent
  1. 1Forming2026-10-19 03:15 NYthe range is set: above 29607.0 or below 29541.6
  2. 4Time to act2026-10-19 03:50 NYbroke out at 29536.7, stop 29574.3
  3. 5Result2026-10-19 08:10 NYstop

Education, not advice. A pattern describes what many traders watch for; it does not predict what price will do. The textbook stop and target are reference levels, not instructions. Trading involves risk.

Put it to work

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Trading involves risk. This page is education, not advice; examples come from past data.