Carlo Zarattini identified the 5-Minute Opening Range Breakout (ORB) as the most profitable S&P 500 ORB strategy, using the 9:30–9:35 a.m. ET opening range. A 5-minute live chart in the right column of the blog shows a single ES session, from 7:15 a.m. to 7:15 p.m. ET, represented by 144 five-minute bars. A live ES feed adds each new bar from left to right within this fixed window. The window remains in place until 7:15 a.m. ET on the next weekday, when a new one opens. The footer identifies the next update.
Blue shading covers the period before 9:30 a.m. ET and from 4:15 p.m. ET onward. The prior session's opening range, midpoint, and targets extend across the morning shade and stop at 9:30. A blue 20-bar EMA follows the bars and restarts at 9:30. Zarattini's 5-Minute Opening Range Breakout trades the 9:30–9:35 bar. A close below the open signals a short, which remains in effect even if price later breaks above the range. A close above the open signals a long, which remains in effect even if price later breaks below the range. A close equal to the open is a doji and generates no trade.
Entry is a buy stop at a bullish 5-minute bar's high or a sell stop at a bearish bar's low. The ORB band remains grey until that level is reached, then turns greenish above the high or reddish below the low, with the color remaining unchanged thereafter. The green numbers above the high and red numbers below the low represent profit targets, each set at a further multiple of half the opening range; the number therefore indicates the reward in those units. Zarattini's stop is set at 10% of ATR from entry. If the stop is not hit, the trade exits at 4:00 p.m. ET. The reward to the selected target, divided by the stop distance, gives the risk/reward ratio in R, with approximately 1% of equity at risk.
The 4:00 p.m. exit follows Larry Williams' day-trading rule, HTTC (Hold to the Close). A short clock misses the larger trend, and the wide-range days that make this setup profitable often finish at their extremes, so the trade is allowed to run. Zarattini's 5-minute ORB may perform even better on Toby Crabel narrow-range days (best NR7 and IDnr4), or when the entry is refined using ICT entry models and time macros.
Daily Bread & Butter Scalping and Short-Term Setups.
Blue shading covers the period before 9:30 a.m. ET and from 4:15 p.m. ET onward. The prior session's opening range, midpoint, and targets extend across the morning shade and stop at 9:30. A blue 20-bar EMA follows the bars and restarts at 9:30. Zarattini's 5-Minute Opening Range Breakout trades the 9:30–9:35 bar. A close below the open signals a short, which remains in effect even if price later breaks above the range. A close above the open signals a long, which remains in effect even if price later breaks below the range. A close equal to the open is a doji and generates no trade.
Entry is a buy stop at a bullish 5-minute bar's high or a sell stop at a bearish bar's low. The ORB band remains grey until that level is reached, then turns greenish above the high or reddish below the low, with the color remaining unchanged thereafter. The green numbers above the high and red numbers below the low represent profit targets, each set at a further multiple of half the opening range; the number therefore indicates the reward in those units. Zarattini's stop is set at 10% of ATR from entry. If the stop is not hit, the trade exits at 4:00 p.m. ET. The reward to the selected target, divided by the stop distance, gives the risk/reward ratio in R, with approximately 1% of equity at risk.
The 4:00 p.m. exit follows Larry Williams' day-trading rule, HTTC (Hold to the Close). A short clock misses the larger trend, and the wide-range days that make this setup profitable often finish at their extremes, so the trade is allowed to run. Zarattini's 5-minute ORB may perform even better on Toby Crabel narrow-range days (best NR7 and IDnr4), or when the entry is refined using ICT entry models and time macros.