Explainer
How do I practise the New York open on NQ with bar replay?
Jump a replay to 09:30 ET, mark the overnight range, step the first candles one at a time and journal the decision before each step.
Updated
The short answer
The New York open is the 09:30 Eastern candle, when the cash session of NQ (E-mini Nasdaq-100) starts. A bar replay lets you arrive at that candle again and again with nothing after it on the chart, so you can practise your reading of the first hour without hindsight.
This walkthrough uses NQ on Tuesday 2025-06-10 (contract NQM5) in the Trade Lab. It teaches a routine, not a setup: it makes no claim that any approach to the open pays.
- Overnight range
- The high and low of the Asia and London hours, from the 18:00 Eastern session start to the bar before 09:30.
- Session start
- The Lab’s three starts are Asia 18:00, London 03:00 and New York 09:30, all Eastern.
A routine for the first 30 minutes
Jump to 09:30
Start an NQ replay on 2025-06-10 and press Next 09:30. The Lab asks you to confirm the reveal, because a jump shows many candles at once and cannot be undone.
Read the screen at the bell
After Reveal the top line reads 09:30 ET and the chart ends at the current candle. Nothing later is loaded.
Mark the overnight range
Switch to a 15-minute chart so the whole range fits, then draw a horizontal ray at the overnight high, 21,973.25, and another at the low, 21,732.00. Drawings stay when you change the timeframe.
Step the first candles
Go back to 5 minutes and press Step three times. Each press completes the next 5-minute candle, so you reach 09:44 with the 09:30, 09:35 and 09:40 candles complete.
Write the decision before you go on
Choose Long, Short, No trade or Wait, add a tag such as ny open, and write what you see. Here the entry is Wait, because the first 15 minutes are not finished.
Step on and compare
Enter the entry, then step again. The entry is locked, so you cannot rewrite it with hindsight. Here three more steps reach 09:59.
What to look at on the first candles
Common questions at the open are where price sits against the overnight range, whether the first candles stay inside it or leave it, and how large the first candles are next to the ones before. The Lab does not answer them for you. It gives you the chart, the rays and a place to write.
Run the same routine on several dates. Because each run is saved, you can open an earlier one and read your own entries in order.
Practise the routine, not the outcome: the same steps on many different mornings.
What the Trade Lab does not do
The Trade Lab replays history. It has no live data, and no real order is ever placed. Paper fills are modelled on 1-minute bars, so they approximate real fills.
Each account can read 40 distinct 1-minute sessions and start 5 new runs per UTC day, and it needs a verified email. The Lab itself is free.
Questions and answers
How do I jump to the 9:30 open in a replay?
Press Next 09:30 in the control bar and confirm. It reveals every bar up to the next 09:30 Eastern bar.
What is the overnight range on NQ?
The high and low from the 18:00 Eastern session start to the bar before 09:30. You mark it with two horizontal rays.
Can I practise the open on ES or gold as well?
Yes. ES and GC replay the same way, and the 09:30 jump is the same button.
Can I see the next candle before I decide?
No. The server never sends a bar later than the current one, and a replay cannot be moved backward.
Does a journal entry change when I step forward?
No. An entry stops being editable once the replay moves on, and a later thought goes in a follow-up entry.