The Trading Session Opening

The start of the day can set the stage for your own trades as well. Starting off with a winning trade or having the marketmove in your favor at the beginning of the day gives you a confidence level that can propel you to an extremely successful trading day.

Having a negative tone or having the market move against your analysis and any open positions will probably color your judgment for the rest of the day.

It all starts with your first trade of the trading session opening, and can actually be one of the best times of day to trade.

Markets often open the trading session opening in one of three ways:

Balanced - if the market opens in balance, many traders will stand aside looking for opportunities later in the trading session. This is the type of open many successful traders tend to stay away from. This open causes nothing but trouble for the average trader who tends to chase trends that may never materialize.

Out of Balance to the Upside - if the trading session opens out of balance to the upside, traders will look for a way to buy the market as soon as possible. This is the type of day where excellent trading opportunities can likely be found.

Out of Balance to the Downside - if the market opens out of balance to the downside, traders will look for a way to sell the market as soon as possible. This is the other type of day where excellent trading opportunities can likely be found.

Experienced traders will watch for these signals to determine possible entry or exit opportunities.

Long opportunities will present themselves if the trading session opens and trends higher throughout the day. If that opening tick is the lowest price for the session, traders will look to jump on board with long positions.

The same concept applies for bearish positions on a day where the opening tick is the highest price for the session. Be wary of a trend that forms after the market traded on either side of that opening tick – the pattern would be potentially weaker.

The exception to this would be a market that is testing support or resistance after the open. If the market opens, trades to a known technical resistance or support level, and then turns and doesn’t try to go there again, it could still be a trendingday.

On days without a trend many traders avoid trying to call a breakout or skip trading altogether.

A market that is in “balance” opens inside the Value Area. It will likely not have a big trending day unless something knocks it “out of balance.”

Markets that open outside the Value Area or out of “balance” could see big days, but watch how they move after that opening tick. You should be able to tell within the first few bars whether or not it is likely to be a poor trading environment with limited opportunities.