Opening range breakout (ORB) strategy explained

The opening range breakout (ORB) is a session strategy: measure the high and low of the first minutes after a cash open, then trade a break of that range. Index CFDs and major forex pairs around London or New York are the usual playgrounds. An ORB trading bot simply fires the same geometry every day so you are not redrawing boxes while the range is still printing.

The core rules (plain language)

1. Pick a session and a range length (15, 30, or 60 minutes are common).
2. Do not trade until that window closes.
3. Define a break: a stop order beyond the range, or a close beyond a buffer.
4. Put invalidation on the other side of the range or beyond a volatility stop.
5. Use a target, a runner, or a time stop. “Hope” is not a target.

None of this predicts direction. You are trading the idea that the open concentrates orders and that a committed break can continue. Some days it fake-outs immediately. That is why spread filters and news pauses exist on the ORB bot.

Bot vs discretionary ORB

Discretionary traders skip “ugly” opens. A bot will not, unless you encode skip rules (too-wide range, too-narrow range, high-impact calendar). If you cannot write those exceptions down, you are not ready to automate.

Combining with other modules

BigBot can run ORB beside MA cross and FVG, but only with a portfolio risk ceiling. Three strategies at full size on 50 symbols is how accounts die, not how “diversification” works.

Practice

Walk forward a few months of the same session on demo. Compare bot fills to what you would have taken by hand. Then decide if the difference is discipline (good) or a settings mismatch (fix that first).