Session Initial Balance

#What you see

Once the initial balance window of a session has ended, two horizontal lines on the price chart: the highest high (green by default) and the lowest low (red) of that window. They run until the next session starts. During the window itself there are no lines.

#How it is calculated

Sessions start at 00:00 UTC (Asia), 08:00 UTC (London) and 14:30 UTC (New York); in summer time London (European dates) and New York (US dates) start one hour earlier. In the gaps between London and New York and between New York and midnight UTC, the lines of the last session continue.

For each session, every candle that opens within the first Initial Balance Minutes after the session start counts:

• hh = highest high of those candles
• ll = lowest low of those candles

On chart timeframes longer than the window, the whole first candle of the session is used.

#How to read it

The initial balance comes from Market Profile trading: the first part of a session often sets the range that traders accept for the rest of it.

• A break above hh (or below ll) that holds suggests the range is extending in that direction.
• A break that fails and returns into the range often rotates to the other side.
• A narrow initial balance is often followed by a larger move, a wide one by a range-bound session.

#Using it in strategies

Outputs: hh and ll. They have no value during the window and only appear once it is complete, so they do not look ahead. In the Trade Setup, "Compare" with the price, e.g. hh below the price, works as a breakout trigger. In WickScript use use indicator "Session IB" with ibMinutes 60 as ib, then e.g. close crosses above ib.hh; the built-in series session tells you the session of a candle.

#Settings

Open the settings with the slider icon next to the indicator (Indicators, F3). Numeric settings can be swept as Step 1 / Step 2 parameters when you run a strategy.

#Inputs

#Styles

#Outputs

These values can be used in Trade Setup triggers, filters and exits (see Trade Setup) and in WickScript.

#Use in WickScript

use indicator creates this indicator inside a script, with settings by their ID. Each output is a field of the name after as. See WickScript indicators.

wickscript 1
indicator "Session Initial Balance from the list" on chart
use indicator "Session IB" with ibMinutes 60 as mySessionib
show mySessionib.hh as line "hh"