ES, this site's first futures system, trades the overnight session before the stock market even opens. NQ, the E-mini Nasdaq-100 future, goes back to the cash session instead: the high and low set in the first thirty minutes after the 9:30 ET open, and what price does at the edges of that range once the opening print settles down. Charts below are interactive. Click Play on any setup to watch the signal bar fire and the entry, stop, and target draw themselves, computed live from the actual candle, in the 0.25-point ticks NQ actually trades in, not cents.
“Wait for the signal bar to close, then buy the close or sell the close, one tick past its high or low. Stop is one tick past the far side of the signal bar, target is half its range, the same math on every setup.”Jason Parker · Founder, TradeScalping.com
NQ shares a tick size with ES, but not a point value, and this system trades a different range entirely. Click one to see what it means.
Wait for the signal bar to close, then buy if price on the next bar trades one tick, 0.25 points, above the signal bar's high. The close confirms the signal. It isn't your entry price.
Wait for the signal bar to close, then sell if price on the next bar trades one tick, 0.25 points, below the signal bar's low. The close confirms the signal. It isn't your entry price.
Stop goes one tick past the far side of the signal bar. Target is half its range. Identical rule to every other system on this site, ES included, and NQ even shares ES's 0.25-point tick. What's different is the dollar value riding on that tick. A point on ES is $50; a point on NQ is $20, and a tick is $5, not $12.50. A ten-point stop here is $200 of risk before you've decided how many contracts to trade, not the bigger number a same-size stop would run on ES. Smaller isn't automatically safer. Run the number in the position-size calculator before assuming it is.
Play with the numbers below. The default reflects a typical opening-range breakout bar on this system, ten points of risk for five points of reward.
≈70% is the break-even line once spread and slippage are priced in, not the raw number the math alone gives you. ≈80% is doing well. ≈90% is among the best scalpers running a system like this.
Four different jobs, same math once the bar closes. A breakout bar closes near its own high, clean through the opening range. A breakdown bar does the same thing pointed down. A failed-breakout bar pokes past the level and closes back inside, rejecting its own extreme instead of confirming it. A retest bar shows up after a breakout already happened: price comes back to test the broken level, holds it, and closes back toward the breakout side. Whichever one fires, entry is one tick past the signal bar's own high or low, stop is one tick past the far side, target is half the range.
One honest note before the setups. This system's toughest sessions aren't the losing trades. They're the mornings where the first thirty minutes chop sideways in a box too narrow to mean anything, and the eventual breakout out of it just extends the same indecision instead of starting a fresh move. A range that tight isn't compressed energy waiting to fire. It's thirty minutes no one used to disagree about price, and trading the edge of it is a coin flip wearing a system's clothes. Check the opening range against a typical session for this contract before the first trade.
Same system, same rules. Only the box width changes across these three. Click through and watch the verdict flip.
Illustrative examples built to test opening-range width, not the setup itself, or volume. Not historical NQ prices. The 15pt/45pt marks are a rule of thumb for this contract, not a law anyone enforces, and they'd need rescaling for a different futures product entirely.
Each chart shows the setup forming. Hit Play and the signal bar fires, then the entry, stop, and target draw in, computed the same way you'd compute them live, straight from the signal bar's own high, low, and close, in 0.25-point ticks.
The pattern: the opening range sets its high in the first thirty minutes, price spends a few bars pressing against it, then a bar finally closes clean above it.
Long: a bar closes above the opening range high, near its own high. Buy the close.
The pattern: the same idea, pointed down. Price tests the opening range low, holds it once, then gives it up.
Short: a bar closes below the opening range low, near its own low, after price already tested and held it once. Sell the close.
The pattern: the first few minutes bring a print that pokes through the opening range high on thin early-session liquidity, then the same bar closes back inside the range. The failure is the signal, not a reason to sit out.
Short: a bar wicks above the opening range high, then closes back inside near its own low. Sell the close, trading the failure back into the range.
The pattern: after a clean breakout, price pulls back to retest the level it just broke. Instead of failing back through it, the retest holds and price closes back toward the breakout side.
Long: price breaks the opening range high, pulls back to retest it, holds, and closes strong back near its own high. Buy the close, trading the continuation.
Illustrative examples built to show each setup's shape. Not historical NQ prices.
A futures account isn't a stock account with a different ticker typed in. Margin, overnight risk, and contract specs work differently here than on any other system on this site. Run your own numbers in the position-size calculator, or head back to risk management for the account-level rules underneath every system on this site.
Common questions about trading this specific system, answered straight.
Wait for the signal bar to close, then enter one tick, 0.25 points, past its high for a long or its low for a short. Buy the close or sell the close. Stop goes one tick past the far side of the signal bar, and the target is half its range, the same math whether the signal bar is a breakout, a breakdown, a failed breakout, or a retest.
NQ shares ES's 0.25-point tick size, but not its dollar value. A point on ES is $50, while a point on NQ is $20, and a tick is $5, not $12.50. A ten-point stop on NQ is $200 of risk before you've decided how many contracts to trade, a smaller number than the same-size stop would run on ES, but not automatically a safer one. Run it through the position-size calculator instead of assuming.
The range checker tool on this page treats anything under roughly 15 points as a tight, low-information range and anything over roughly 45 points as a wide one. A range that narrow usually means the first thirty minutes chopped sideways without anyone disagreeing about price, and trading the edge of it is a coin flip wearing a system's clothes.
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