Opening Range Breakout

Kristjan buys everything at once and aggressively — no scaling in, no waiting. He uses opening range highs (the high of the first one, five, or sixty minutes) as entry triggers, with the corresponding low as his initial stop. A one-minute opening range gets you in earlier with a tighter stop but has a higher failure rate; the sixty-minute range has fewer false starts but a wider stop. He accepts being stopped out intraday frequently — sometimes within two minutes of entry — because getting out fast and getting in precisely is how you keep losses small. Hesitation, he argues, only makes entries more expensive: you wait, the stop doubles in size, and now the risk-reward is broken before the trade has even started.

Williams explains how Bill Meehan — who tutored three traders including Williams — combined a fundamental directional framework with Williams's technical timing to produce a system that worked. Bill taught Williams how to determine where the market was headed over weeks and months; Williams developed the entry mechanism: a volatility breakout system built around the opening price, introduced around 1982. The logic is straightforward: calculate an expected range for the day, bracket a small distance above and below the opening, and enter in whichever direction price breaks. Williams notes the system worked powerfully in pit-session markets but became less effective once electronic trading eliminated the defined opening range, though the concept still applies to stocks and swing trading setups through patterns like the OOPS reversal.

"We just bracket that — a little bit above and below the opening."

Luk bought AMC at the five-minute opening-range high and was stopped out when the breakout candle's low failed. He stayed with the idea, waited for the stock to form a tight range near the 21 EMA on the five-minute chart, and re-entered on an inside-day breakout. As price took out the high of day he raised the stop to the breakout candle's low — about 3.2% risk — and rode the position for roughly 170% before selling half premarket into strength near the declining monthly 9 EMA and 2020–21 swing lows.

"I bought the opening range highs on the five-minute candle breakout... I keep watching it until it forms a nice range near the 21 EMA... I bought the inside day breakout."

Luk entered SoundHound at the opening-range high with a 4% stop — wider than he normally accepts — because he did not want to wait for the prior-day-high breakout and widen the stop further. The trade worked, but he then sold poorly: he did not follow the 9 EMA and exited on what looked like a bearish reversal, only to watch price find support at the 9 EMA and run another 80–90%. He skipped the later breakout because the general market made him skeptical, which he accepts as part of trading.

"I entered at the opening range highs and I used a 4% stop... The lesson I wanted to point out is the poor selling... I didn't follow the nine-day [EMA]."

QBTS built a tight flag near the 9 and 21 EMAs after failing to push higher, then opened strongly. Luk bought the opening-range high but was stopped out within two or three minutes; he re-entered when the stock held and tried to break out again. He emphasizes how much difference a precise entry makes: a move that looks like less than half a bar on the chart can be 8–9% of risk. He sold most of the position into strength on accelerating volume and parabolic extension, and the trade alone contributed about 80% of his December profits.

"This trade alone contributes 80% of my profits in December... I bought the opening range highs but got stopped out... I still managed to find a re-entry point."