Inside-bar breakout
The inside bar is one of the most popular price-action setups in India. When a 15-minute candle's high and low both sit inside the previous candle, the earlier one is called the mother bar. The market is coiling, and a break of the mother bar's high or low is traded as the start of the next move. This version trades NIFTY futures with two lots, each aiming for a different target.How it trades
Results
PRE-BUILT · DEFAULTSWhere it made and lost money
An inside bar marks a pause, and the trade only pays if the break that follows becomes a real move. In this test it did on trend days that closed near their high or low, earning ₹1,14,683 over 128 trades with a 56% win rate. On quiet sessions with a range under 0.75%, the most common type, it lost ₹2,68,303 over 214 trades: the break of the mother bar petered out and price drifted back to the stop on the other side. Nervous markets were also costly, with entries after an India VIX close above 14.5 losing ₹2,09,404 over 130 trades. Tuesday expiry days, which tend to move more, made ₹30,858 over 98 trades.
About this strategy
- Build 15-minute candles of the NIFTY near-month future from 09:15 each day.
- Find the first inside bar of the session: a candle whose high and low both lie within the previous (mother) candle; skip the day if the mother's range is more than 0.8% of price.
- After the inside bar closes and until 14:30, buy two lots when price trades 3 points above the mother's high, or sell two lots 3 points below its low.
- Place the stop for both lots at the other side of the mother bar.
- Take the first lot off at 1x the mother's range from the trigger and the second at 1.5x.
- Close anything still open at 15:15; one setup per day.
Why traders use it
An inside bar shows the market contracting after a bigger move, a sign that buyers and sellers are briefly balanced. When the mother bar's range breaks, the side that wins often moves quickly. The setup gives a clear entry, a natural stop at the other side of the mother bar, and targets sized from the same range, so the reward-to-risk is fixed before entry. Splitting into two targets lets traders bank some profit early while giving the rest room to run.
The year in plain words
On NIFTY futures from 1 Oct 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 the setup triggered on 231 days, giving 462 lot-level trades. It lost ₹2,68,241 before costs, with a 42% win rate and a profit factor of 0.75, and ₹3,35,608 after ₹20 per order and bid-ask slippage. Wins and losses averaged about ₹4,000 each, so the low win rate decided the result. The stop took 239 trades, the first target 96, the second target 66, and 61 ran to 15:15. October and November 2025 made money; April and May 2026 lost ₹79,064 and ₹84,550, and the longest losing streak was 22 trades.
What the settings do
Risks
- The default trade is two futures lots, so each stop costs twice the single-lot loss.
- The stop at the other side of the mother bar can be up to 0.8% of price away.
- With nearly 40 trades a month and a 42% win rate, long losing streaks are normal; this run had one of 22.
- Costs on almost 500 orders a year add tens of thousands of rupees even before statutory charges.
Who it suits
Price-action traders who want to see the inside bar tested strictly on NIFTY futures, have margin for two lots, and can follow a fixed plan through long losing runs.
Questions traders ask
What is an inside bar and a mother bar?
An inside bar is a candle whose high is not above, and low not below, the previous candle. That previous, larger candle is the mother bar. Together they show a pause, and traders watch for price to break the mother bar's range.
Is the inside bar strategy profitable on NIFTY?
Not in this backtest. On 15-minute NIFTY futures from 1 Oct 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 it lost ₹2,68,241 before costs and ₹3,35,608 after ₹20 per order and bid-ask slippage, over 462 trades. Statutory charges were excluded. Past results do not guarantee future ones.
Why use two targets?
The first lot exits at one times the mother range to lock in some profit, and the second at one and a half times to capture bigger moves. In this test the first target was hit 96 times and the second 66 times.
Does the stop mode matter?
Yes. The default stop at the far side of the mother bar gives the trade room but loses more when hit. Switching to the inside bar's far side tightens the stop, which cuts each loss but is hit more often.