The initial balance refers to the price range and trading volume of the first few minutes of a trading session. The initial balance is often used as a reference point for traders to determine the market trend and to develop trading strategies for the rest of the session. The Initial Balance strategy involves placing trades based on the market’s direction after the initial balance period has ended.

The Initial Balance period typically lasts for the first 30 minutes to 1 hour of a trading session, during which the market is usually the most volatile. Traders often use this time to assess the market and establish the direction of the trend. The Initial Balance range is determined by the high and low prices of the first trading period and is often used as a reference point for determining future support and resistance levels.

The Initial Balance trading strategy involves placing trades based on the market’s direction after the Initial Balance period has ended. If the price breaks out above the Initial Balance range, traders may go long and buy the asset, expecting the market to continue to rise. Conversely, if the price breaks down below the Initial Balance range, traders may go short and sell the asset, with the expectation that the market will continue to fall.

This is a great indicator created by Gemify :

Simple Initial Balance (IB) indicator. Can optionally draw up to three customizable IB extensions (defaults are 1.5x, 2x and 3x).
Configurable start/end times for the Initial Balance period (defaults to 9:30 AM-10:30 AM). It is not timezone aware – all times are considered local time.
Also displays IB Range and historical median range.

Update 01/20/2023

• Added Opening Range (30 seconds)
• Added Session Mid

Bug fix: Uploading zip exported from recent NT8 version.

Bugfix: Removed unused “using” references.