First 15-Minute Opening Range Momentum with Risk-Based Sizing

Summary

This intraday strategy takes a directional position based on the first 15-minute candle after the market opens. A bullish candle triggers a long entry and a bearish candle a short entry, subject to the trader’s direction settings. The candle’s low or high defines the stop for longs or shorts, and position size is calculated from account value, a chosen risk percentage, and the distance to that stop. Exits use either a fixed risk-multiple target or a session-end close, with an optional limit of one trade per day.

The document describes the rules and implementation settings, but provides no performance results or comparative testing to support its claims of effectiveness. It identifies false signals, opening gaps, slippage, time-zone configuration, and volatility differences as limitations. Its proposed additions—including volatility and trend filters, volume confirmation, and dynamic targets—are suggestions for further testing, not demonstrated improvements. The method is presented for liquid markets such as SPY, and its fixed target and single-candle signal may not suit all instruments or market conditions.

Key ideas

• The strategy takes a long or short position according to the direction of the first 15-minute candle after the open.
• The reference candle’s low or high sets the stop, and position size scales with the distance to that stop.
• Exits use either a fixed risk-multiple target or a forced close at the end of the session.
• An optional daily trade limit can curb repeated entries.
• Gaps, false signals, slippage, and incorrect session-time settings can undermine results.

Tags

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