Opening Types and Day Types: A Descriptive Guide

Before you read: Volume Profile Explained: POC, Value Area, HVN, LVN

What you will learn

• How to describe where a session opens relative to the prior day’s value and range.
• Common names for how the opening period unfolds.
• Four day types used to describe a finished session, and why a day type is only known afterwards.

This lesson labels sessions. It builds on the ideas in Auction Market Theory and the measurements in volume profile.

Why describe the open at all?

Why might the first part of a session deserve its own vocabulary?

The open is where overnight news, orders placed before the session, and the prior day’s positions meet. Describing the open gives you a shared vocabulary for the first part of the day. It is a description, not a forecast. Every label in this lesson can be applied with confidence only once you can see what happened next.

For markets that trade almost around the clock, such as index futures, “the open” usually means the start of the regular daytime session, when activity in the underlying stock market begins. Be clear about which open you are describing. Index futures are leveraged products. Leverage can cause losses larger than the amount invested.

Step 1: where did it open?

Compared with yesterday, how far has the market’s idea of a fair price moved overnight?

Compare the opening price with the prior session’s value area (from volume profile) and range (its high and low).

1. Inside prior value. The open is between yesterday’s value area high and low. It describes a market that, so far, still agrees with yesterday’s idea of value.
2. Outside value but inside the range. The open is above the value area high or below the value area low, but still within yesterday’s high and low.
3. Outside the prior range. The open is above yesterday’s high or below yesterday’s low, leaving a gap: a price area with no trading between the two sessions (see the glossary entry for the looser usage some writers apply). It describes a larger change in where participants are willing to trade.

These categories say something about how far the market’s view has moved overnight. They do not say whether the move will continue.

Step 2: how did the opening period unfold?

In the first stretch of trading, did price leave the open and stay away, or keep returning to it?

Writers on TPO profiles and auction theory use names for the first stretch of trading. Here they are in plain words:

• Open drive: price leaves the open in one direction and does not come back to it during the opening period.
• Open test drive: price first moves one way, tests a nearby reference (such as yesterday’s high), turns, and then moves firmly the other way.
• Open rejection reverse: price moves one way, meets opposite activity, and reverses through the open.
• Open auction: price rotates back and forth around the open without a clear direction.

What is the initial balance?

The initial balance is the range of the first part of the session, often defined as the first hour (in TPO-profile terms, the first two 30-minute periods). Some traders measure later movement against it. A range extension happens when price later trades beyond the initial balance high or low.

What are the main day types?

Once a session is over, how would you describe its whole shape in one label?

These four types describe the whole session after it has finished.

Balanced or rotational day. Price rotates within a range for most of the session. The profile is usually bell-shaped with value near the middle. Range extensions, if any, are small or quickly reversed. This describes a market in balance.

Trend day. Price moves mostly in one direction from early in the session and closes near the extreme of the day. The profile is long and thin, with little overlap between periods, and the initial balance is a small part of the day’s range. Balanced days and trend days both occur, and their mix varies by market and period. Trend days are often obvious only after the fact.

Double-distribution day. The session builds value in one area, then moves quickly to a new area and builds value there. The profile shows two heavy sections separated by a thin area, often with single prints between them.

Neutral day. Price extends beyond both the initial balance high and the initial balance low during the session. Where it closes, near the middle or near one end, is part of how traders describe it. It describes a session in which both sides tested the other’s extreme.

Other sources use other or more categories, and the names vary between authors. The four day types above cover the idea at a beginner-to-intermediate level.

Day types diagram

Illustrative diagram constructed for teaching. Not real market data.

The diagram shows simplified profile outlines for the four day types above: a bell shape for a balanced day, a long thin column for a trend day, two heavy areas with a thin section between them for a double-distribution day, and a wide, fairly even shape for a neutral day. Each row is one price; bar length is activity at that price.

What are the limits of day-type labels?

At 10 a.m., how sure can you be about what kind of day it will turn out to be?

A day type is only known afterwards. At 10 a.m. a session can look like a trend day and finish as a neutral day. A quiet morning can become a double distribution in the afternoon. Using these labels during the session means making a guess that the rest of the session can overturn.

Their main value for learning is in review: looking at finished sessions, labeling them, and building a sense of how different days unfold. That is the method in session replay.

What this does not tell you about opening and day types

• Opening location does not determine the day type.
• Opening names describe the first part of the session; the rest of the day can look entirely different.
• Day types are labels for review, not predictions.
• Categories and thresholds (how far is “outside value”?) vary between authors and platforms.

Method in Practice: choosing a plan

Fictional example. John, Harbor Index futures, the prices, times, costs and results are all invented for teaching. This shows how a written plan can be built and tested. It is not a recommendation, and nothing here says how often this idea works.

Try it on a real chart. Test this idea yourself on past sessions with bar replay. Keep your own count, including the days with no trade.

The idea. John has more than one written plan. He doesn't choose one by gut feel. He uses the open's location (Step 1) and how the opening period unfolds (Step 2) to decide which plan, if any, applies today. This decision table is his, written for his plans. It isn't a rule for readers, and day types are only known afterwards, so he will sometimes pick wrong.

John's decision table

Open (Step 1)	Opening period (Step 2)	John's plan
Inside a multi-day range	Rotating, no drive	Balance-edge plan (Auction Market Theory Basics: Balance, Value, Rotation)
Outside value, inside the range	Price comes back inside value	Value re-entry plan (Volume Profile Explained: POC, Value Area, HVN, LVN)
Outside the prior range	Open drive away from value	None of his plans fit: no trade
Any	No clear read after the first hour	No trade

Three outcomes

• ✅ Read it right: opened below value, came back in, so he used the value re-entry plan → +$75 (Volume Profile Explained: POC, Value Area, HVN, LVN, Replay A)

• ❌ Misread: opened inside the range and rotated, so he used the balance plan, but it became a trend day → −$124 (Auction Market Theory Basics: Balance, Value, Rotation, Replay B)

• ⏸ No plan fits: opened above the prior high with an open drive → no trade, $0

Show the full replays

• Read it right: the full replay is Volume Profile Explained: POC, Value Area, HVN, LVN, Replay A. The open at 100.70 was below the prior value area (101.20–102.40) and inside the range. Price closed back inside value twice in a row, so the value re-entry plan applied.
• Misread: the full replay is Auction Market Theory Basics: Balance, Value, Rotation, Replay B. The open at 100.60 was inside the five-session range, and the first period rotated. John picked the balance plan, and the range broke at 09:30. Journal: "My table was followed and still wrong for the day. The wrong-if line kept it to the planned size of loss."
• No plan fits:

  Time (CT)	What happened	John
  Pre-open	Prior high 101.00. Opens 101.55, above it	Row 3 of his table
  08:30–09:30	Drives up, never trades back to 101.55	Open drive away from value: no plan. No trade
  09:30–15:00	Trends to 103.10	Watches only

  Journal: "Big trend day, no plan for it. That's a gap in my plans, not a reason to chase. Adding it to the weekly review."

Test it yourself

• Write your own table before you trade, with one row per plan you actually have.
• Review 30 finished sessions. Label each open with the row you would have used, then the day type afterwards.
• Count how often your early read matched the finished day. That count is your own, not ours.

Where it breaks

• At 10 a.m. a balanced-looking day can still become a trend day (the misread).
• The categories ("outside value", "open drive") need fixed definitions, or you'll stretch them to fit.
• A table with too many rows becomes a way to always find a trade.

Reflection question: Does your trading plan say what you do on a day when none of your setups fit?

Check yourself

Reflect on these; there is no score.

1. A market opens above yesterday’s high. Which opening location category is that, and what does it describe? Hint: outside the prior range.
2. Why might a session that looks like a trend day at mid-morning not end as one? Hint: the label depends on the whole session.
3. What distinguishes a neutral day from a balanced day? Hint: extensions beyond both sides of the initial balance.
4. Why are day types most useful when reviewing past sessions? Hint: hindsight is required to label them.

Last reviewed November 8, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Report an error.