Skip to content
Is the market open today? Today
SearchCtrl K
EnglishHinglish
My learning
Is the market open today? Today

Find your next idea

Learning track 3 of 9

The first hour

Gaps, the opening range, and the one line the whole session is measured against.

What this track is for

This track is about reading the opening hour of a trading session. It starts with a gap up whose demand is absorbed. Then it shows the same absorption downward, so you learn the mechanic instead of memorising two pictures. Next it reads a break of the opening range that fails. It finishes on , the volume-weighted average price that intraday participants treat as the centre of gravity for the session.

A learner sips tea beside a wall clock and a chart that jumps after a quiet start.
Steps4Each says why it follows the last
You will be able to4Things to read and recognise
Comes afterLevels, breaks, and breaks that failRead that track first

0 of 4steps answered — a step is marked when you answer its check, not when you open it

The track, in order

4
  1. Gap-Up Exhaustion: When an Opening Gap FadesBegin at the open. A gap up is the market repricing before you can act on it. Here is what that looks like when the demand behind it is absorbed.A gap-up opens well above the prior close. Sometimes the gap fails to hold. Price stalls near the open, leaves an upper wick, and fades back into the prior range. That is described as gap-up exhaustion, or a gap trap. It reflects sellers absorbing the opening enthusiasm.
  2. Gap-Down Reversal: Absorption Below the RangeNow the same absorption in the other direction. That way you learn the mechanic, instead of memorising a bullish picture and a bearish picture separately.A gap-down opens well below the prior close. Sometimes the selling is absorbed. Price leaves a lower wick, stops falling, and reclaims the low of the prior range. That is described as a gap-down reversal. It mirrors gap-up exhaustion, with the roles of buyers and sellers swapped.
  3. Opening Range Breakout Failure: Back Inside the RangeA gap sets a level by accident. The opening range sets one on purpose. This is a break of that range failing: the intraday twin of the trap in the previous track.The opening range is the high-low band of the first part of the session (ORH/ORL). An opening range breakout fails when price pushes above the opening range high, or below the low, but then cannot follow through. Price returns inside the range instead. It is a structure, not a signal.
  4. VWAP Reclaim and Hold: Context, Not a Standalone SignalOne line ties the session together. VWAP is the level intraday participants measure the day against. Reclaiming it is the context every page above was missing.VWAP is the volume-weighted average price for the session. It is a reference for the average traded level. A VWAP reclaim is when price moves from below VWAP back above it and holds, often after a retest. It is a context shift, not a standalone signal.
Start the track: Gap-Up Exhaustion: When an Opening Gap Fades

When you finish this track

Next track: Who is actually behind the move

Volume, delivery and momentum. The evidence under a price line.

See what that track covers →

All tracks and the full library

Every ordered track, plus the searchable index of explainers and worked case studies behind them.

Open the learning index →
VWAP (Volume Weighted Average Price)

VWAP is the average price a stock, index or contract has traded at over a chosen period, weighted by the volume at each price.

Read more