summary: how to trade edgeful's ultimate bullish setup — a continuation play for days that open inside yesterday's range, stacking inside bars, opening candle continuation, and the initial balance for entry, stop, and targets.
what it is
the ultimate bullish setup is the continuation counterpart to the ultimate reversal setup. it's a long-side play for days that open within yesterday's range. there's a mirror-image bearish version when the same signals point down.
like the reversal setup, it's built on report confluence — several reports lining up in the same direction before you take the trade.
edgeful runs this one specifically on NQ during the NY session — that's where it was built and demoed. the mechanics carry to other tickers, but confirm each report's read for the ticker and session you actually trade before you lean on it.
prefer to watch first? André builds the entire setup from scratch in about 11 minutes:
the reports involved
inside bars — frames the target: when price opens inside yesterday's range, how often it breaks out to touch the previous high or low. the by open subreport adds the directional half — which quarter of yesterday's range today opened in, and which side that quarter has favored.
opening candle continuation — the directional filter: does the first hour's color tend to carry through to the close.
initial balance breakout — the trigger: which side of the first-hour range breaks.
IB buy retracement — the entry and stop mechanics after the break.
IB by levels — the extension targets beyond the breakout.
open each report for your ticker, session, and window to read the current rates.
the sequence
trade it in order:
open inside yesterday's range. the inside bars report tells you how often price breaks out — that break of the previous day's high (bullish) or low is your eventual target. for the bullish version, check inside bars by open too: an open in the upper part of yesterday's range is the read that lines up with a previous-day-high target, and an open down near the low is an early argument against the long.
first hour is green. for the bullish version, the opening candle continuation report needs the first hour green, which leans the day toward closing green and toward the previous-day-high target.
IB breaks the aligned side. wait for the initial balance (first hour) to form, then for price to break one side. a green opening candle plus a break of the IB high is aligned — take it. a green candle plus a break of the IB low is two strong reports conflicting — no trade.
enter on the retracement, not the breakout. the IB buy retracement report shows how often price pulls back into the range after the break. enter on that retracement rather than chasing the breakout.
stop where the thesis breaks. a deeper pullback invalidates the single-break idea, so your stop sits at the retracement level where the setup no longer holds (per the IB buy retracement report).
target the break of the previous day's high for the bullish version. for extended targets, use IB by levels (the IB-range extensions).
the conflict rule
this is the part that keeps you out of bad trades: if two strong reports disagree — a green opening candle but a break of the IB low, for example — you don't trade. confluence means everything points the same way. when it doesn't, that's the data telling you to stand aside.
viewing it on your chart
the initial balance, opening candle continuation, and previous day's range all have TradingView indicators that plot their levels automatically, and the what's in play dashboard shows when the pieces are lining up live. see the indicator access article to get them on your chart.
tips
the setup is a sequence, not a checklist you read all at once — each step has to confirm before the next matters.
the bearish version is the exact mirror: open inside the range (in the lower quarters of yesterday's range on by open), red first hour, IB low break, short the retracement, target the previous day's low.
reports drift, so confirm each step's current read for your ticker and session before you lean on it.
go deeper on the ultimate bullish setup: