Why the open matters
The opening of the RTH session is the most important auction of the day. How price behaves in the first 30-60 minutes — relative to the previous session's value area and range — tells you more about who is in control than any indicator can.
The four open types describe the relationship between the opening print and the previous day's value and range.
Open-Drive (OD)
Price opens and immediately moves in one direction with no rejection. Large volume, strong delta, no pullback in the first 10-15 minutes. This is the rarest and most powerful open type — it signals strong initiative activity from the open.
Trading an Open-Drive: go with the move immediately. Don't wait for a pullback — in a genuine OD, the first pullback may be minimal or not happen for an hour. Trail stops aggressively; the risk is holding against a move that stalls.
Open-Test-Drive (OTD)
Price opens, tests a key level (previous day's VAH, VAL, overnight high/low), finds rejection, and then drives in the opposite direction. Two-phase move. The test is the signal — if responsive activity appears at the tested level (absorption, large orders defending), the drive is genuine.
The OTD is one of the most tradeable open types because you have a defined test point for your stop and a clear direction once the test fails.
Open-Rejection-Reverse (ORR)
Similar to OTD but more aggressive — price gaps through a level, immediately rejects, and reverses. The market opened in a "wrong" location relative to perceived value and quickly corrected. The rejection is fast and clear.
Watch for: gap up through previous VAH that immediately reverses — sellers didn't agree with the gap and aggressively pushed back. This often leads to gap-fill moves.
Open-Auction (OA)
Price opens and immediately rotates — no clear direction, volume is moderate, both sides are active. This is the most common open type and the hardest to trade. It typically resolves into one of the other types once a side establishes control — which is why patience at the open is valuable.
Trading an OA: wait for the IB to establish, then trade the extremes or wait for a break with follow-through. Don't force trades in the first 15 minutes of an OA.