Active since the 1980s · Futures · Short-term trader and fund manager
Toby Crabel: Opening Range Breakout and NR7
The researcher behind the opening range breakout and the narrow-range (NR4/NR7) patterns.
Who they were
Toby Crabel is a futures trader and founder of the investment firm Crabel Capital Management. In 1990 he published "Day Trading with Short Term Price Patterns and Opening Range Breakout", a statistical study of short-term patterns that became a classic.
The book was printed in small numbers and became famously expensive on the second-hand market, but its ideas are now widely used.
Principles and rules
1. Opening range breakout
A move beyond a range set early in the session, by a predetermined amount, tends to continue in that direction.
2. Contraction leads to expansion
Narrow-range days (NR4, NR7) and inside days are often followed by wider-range days.
3. Statistics, not stories
Each pattern was tested on historical data to measure how often it worked.
4. Early entry
The best breakouts tend to happen early; a trade that does not move soon is suspect.
Key lessons
- Volatility runs in cycles you can measure.
- The open contains information.
- Test patterns before trusting them.
Strategies from this method
How to practise it
The opening range breakout and NR7 strategy pages have the rules. Candlemind's OCO orders let you place a buy stop and a sell stop around a narrow candle.
Frequently asked questions
What is an NR7 day?
A day whose high-low range is the narrowest of the last seven days.
What is Toby Crabel's book?
"Day Trading with Short Term Price Patterns and Opening Range Breakout" (1990).
Summaries and paraphrases of public books and interviews, for education. Not investment advice.