Open = high / open = low
Open equals low, open equals high is one of the most searched intraday scanners in India. If the day's opening price is still the day's low some time after the open, buyers are seen as in control and the setup buys; if the open is still the high, it sells. This version checks NIFTY futures at 09:30, uses the open as the stop and aims for twice the risk.How it trades
Results
PRE-BUILT · DEFAULTSWhere it made and lost money
The setup bets that a session which has not traded beyond its open in 15 minutes will trend away from it. When that happened, it worked: the eight trend days made ₹25,439 with seven winners. But the 12 choppy, wide-range days lost ₹82,926 without a single win, because price came back through the open, hitting the stop, before swinging the other way. The trend going in mattered too. In markets already below their 20-day average the strategy lost ₹76,488 over 18 trades, while in uptrends it made ₹4,752 over 21. Calm markets with India VIX below 11.5 were the only volatility bucket in profit, at ₹3,685 over 14 trades.
About this strategy
- At 09:30, read the NIFTY near-month future's opening price and its high and low so far.
- If the open equals the low (within one tick) and is not also the high, buy one lot at the next tick.
- If the open equals the high and is not also the low, sell one lot instead.
- Place the stop at the day's opening price.
- Set the target at twice the distance from entry to the open.
- Close anything still open at 15:15; one trade a day at most.
Why traders use it
When a market opens and never trades below that price, it suggests buyers absorbed every early sell order, and the reverse for sellers. The rule is simple to scan for and gives a precise stop: if price trades back through the open, the setup is plainly wrong. Checking at a fixed time after the open, rather than at the end of the day, avoids the hindsight problem of knowing the day's low in advance.
The year in plain words
On NIFTY futures from 1 Oct 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 the setup appeared 39 times. It won 14 and lost ₹71,736 before costs, a profit factor of 0.43, and ₹81,477 after ₹20 per order and bid-ask slippage. Losses averaged about ₹4,990 against wins of about ₹3,790, because by 09:30 the entry was often far from the open, making the stop wide. Twenty-two trades were stopped at the open, seven reached target and ten closed at 15:15. Only October 2025 and September 2026 were positive; July 2026 lost ₹21,139.
What the settings do
Risks
- By 09:30 the price can be well away from the open, so the stop distance and rupee risk vary a lot from day to day.
- A single futures lot can lose over ₹13,000 on one day, as the worst trade did.
- Setups are rare, around three a month, so a few bad days decide the year.
- Requiring the open to equal the low within one tick depends on how precisely the exchange's open is recorded.
Who it suits
Traders who use open-high-low scanners and want to see the idea tested on NIFTY futures with fixed rules, and who have futures margin for an intraday position.
Questions traders ask
What is the open = low open = high strategy?
It is an intraday setup. If a stock or index has not traded below its opening price after the first minutes, the open equals the low and the setup buys. If it has not traded above the open, the open equals the high and it sells. The stop goes at the open.
Is open = low open = high profitable on NIFTY futures?
Not in this test. From 1 Oct 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 it lost ₹71,736 before costs and ₹81,477 after ₹20 per order and bid-ask slippage, over 39 trades. Statutory charges were excluded. Past results do not guarantee future ones, and stock futures may behave differently.
Why check at 09:30 and not at the close?
Whether the open is the day's low is only known for certain after the close, which is too late to trade. Checking at a fixed time after the open uses only what was known then, so the backtest has no look-ahead.
Can I use this on stocks?
The idea began as a stock-futures scanner, and the symbol setting accepts F&O stocks. Stock futures have wider spreads, so after-costs results will be weaker than before-costs ones by a larger margin.