Counter-Trading the First Intraday Candle with Fixed Stops and Targets

Summary

This intraday strategy takes a position opposite the direction of the first candle of each session: it goes long after a bearish first candle and short after a bullish one. The stated rationale is that opening activity may reverse, but the document presents this as a strategy premise rather than evidence that the effect persists. Positions use separate percentage-based stop-loss and take-profit levels for long and short trades, and are closed when the configured session ends.

The parameters include a market session and separate target and stop percentages, and the published backtest setup uses BTC/USDT futures with 15-minute base data and a three-hour strategy period. No results or comparison are provided. The logic depends on how the first daily candle is defined and on session settings; opening reversals may fail, and fees, news, and poor stop or target choices can undermine results. Volume confirmation and instrument filtering are suggested as possible improvements, not validated additions.

Key ideas

• The strategy takes a position opposite the direction of the first candle of each session.
• It applies separate fixed percentage stops and profit targets to long and short positions.
• An intraday session filter closes open positions when the session ends.
• The document offers a backtest configuration but no performance results to support the reversal premise.
• Opening moves can continue instead of reversing, and costs or event risk may affect outcomes.

Tags

This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.