Opening Range Fade Checklist
The first hour is done and price is back at the edge of the initial balance. Fade it or not? Enter the IB, the 10-day ADR and where price is, then tick what you see on the chart. The score updates live and the verdict comes with the entry, the stop and the targets. The day types and open types come from Dalton, Jones and Dalton's Mind Over Markets (1990): a wide IB after a rotational open is a normal day whose extremes tend to hold, a narrow IB after an open-drive is a trend day that runs through them. The IB is the first 60 minutes, the CME convention.
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Enter the IB high and low, the ADR and the price. The numeric checks fill themselves in. Tick the chart checks by hand, or press 1 to 5.
How it scores. 100 points across 9 checks, weighted by how much each one says about whether the IB extremes hold. IB width against the 10-day ADR is worth 25: 50% of ADR or wider is a normal day (full marks), 35% to 50% is a normal variation day (12), under 35% is trend-day territory (0). Price at the edge is worth 10, full marks within 10% of the IB width, half within 20%. IB inside yesterday's range is worth 10 when you give yesterday's high and low, and it's skipped (score scaled) when you don't. Rotational open is 20, IB complete is 10, first or second test 10, lighter volume on the push 10, no news in the next 30 minutes 5. Fade at 70 or more. 45 to 69 is a wait. Under 45, or a narrow IB, or an open-drive, or price nowhere near an edge, is a stand-aside. Plan: entry at the IB edge, stop 25% of the IB width past it, T1 the IB midpoint, T2 the far edge. The break case shows Dalton's range extension target, 1 IB width beyond the edge, so you know where it's going if the fade is wrong. Keyboard: 1 to 5 toggle the chart checks, Esc clears them.
Educational tool only, not financial advice. A wide IB on a rotational open is a tendency, not a wall. When the fade fails, the range extension target is where the other side is aiming.
Built by Jason Parker, founder of Trading Ranges.