How do you determine the Open / Close price at 00 min (beginning of the hour)?


#1

Hello,

I apologize for asking this kind of question, but I had to be absolutely sure. (I guess this question is not limited to a bar only at the beginning of the hour).

When I open a chart, the “Price based on” value under “[-]Period” is set to “Last”

I am using 5 min candle stick bars, and when back testing the Spike Striker system (mainly currencies), suddenly started to wonder what the open and close prices were at x:00?

I always took it for granted that the close price is equal to the open price of the succeeding bar, but I wanted to make sure that when I middle click on a bar at say 12:00, the info that gets displayed (Date / Time /Open / Close / High / Low…etc) are the values for 11:55 - 12:00. Likewise, if I click on a bar at 12:05 the values are for 12:00 - 12:05. I know it’s common sense (and more obvious when using OHLC bars), but it’s one of those things that the more you think about, the more you get confused, since there are exceptions on other instruments which have gaps at the opening hour of the market.

Thank you!

Morister


#2

Time based charts - If you look at the data box ( or middle click ) the time shown at the top is when the bar closed or the time it will close if it is the current bar. The close price is not always the open price of the next bar. It depends on how fast the market is moving. If the time shown is 12:00 and you are on a five minute chart then the info is from 11:55 to 12:00.

Diagnostic bars - They are not time based so the time at the top on the data box is when the bar closed. It could be one second or 1 hour depending on fast the market is moving.