Initial balance break
The initial balance is the first hour's range. A close beyond it signals the market has decided where to go and often extends by a fraction of the range.
Watch it play out
Replay plays a setup this strategy already finished and stops so you can call it. Live watches for the next one on Bitcoin (BTC-USD, 1-minute candles). Either way a setup is marked only when a candle closes, then it's locked and plays out to its target or its stop. Nothing to trade here.
How the live chart applies the rules
- 1-minute candles. The chart runs every strategy on 1-minute Bitcoin candles from Coinbase, whatever timeframe the strategy page suggests. Times are New York time.
- Closed candles only. Levels, triggers and stops are read when a candle closes. Entry is that candle's close.
- One setup at a time. While a setup is playing out, the same strategy doesn't start another.
- Sensible risk only. A setup counts only if its stop is between a quarter and 6 times the average candle range (ATR 14) from entry (wider for session-range strategies), and its target is at least 0.75R away.
- How a setup ends. At its target or its stop. If one candle touches both, the stop counts. A setup also ends at any exit its page names, and after 120 candles (longer for trend and session strategies) if nothing is hit.
- Replays. A replay plays the latest setup this strategy finished on the live chart's recent history, sped up. It's the same setup the live chart confirmed, with the same entry, stop and result. If the strategy hasn't finished one recently, the replay uses example candles and says so.
- The trading day. A day runs 6:00 PM to 6:00 PM ET, like futures. VWAP restarts at 6:00 PM, and "yesterday" means the last full trading day.
How Initial balance break works
- 1Where's the level?
- The high and low of 9:30–10:30 ET.
- 2What's the trigger?
- Between 10:30 ET and noon, a candle closes beyond the initial balance. Once a day.
- 3Where is it wrong?
- The other side of the range, or its middle if the range is wide.
- 4Where does it end?
- A 100% extension: the range's height projected from the break.
- Markets
- Index futures
- Timeframes
- 5m to 30m
- Sessions
- First hour of New York
- Also called
- IB break, IB extension
What it means
The initial balance is the first hour's range. A close beyond it signals the market has decided where to go and often extends by a fraction of the range.
How it is confirmed without repainting
The range is final at 10:30 ET.
When it fails
Price closes back inside and travels to the other side.
Education only. Prop Firm Duel does not provide trade signals or financial advice. This page explains how the strategy is commonly defined. Past results never guarantee future results.
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