Frequently Asked Questions

Everything about the ORBit Analytics statistics tool — the data, the numbers, subscriptions and how to use it. Search or browse below.

The Data
Why do you use futures data instead of the index or CFD I trade?

Futures like NQ (Nasdaq-100), GC (gold) and BTC (bitcoin) trade on one central, regulated exchange with a single consolidated price feed — and every broker's cash index or CFD is derived from exactly that future. Building the statistics on the futures gives one clean, consistent dataset that isn't distorted by an individual broker's spread, feed or session quirks. Because every figure here is a ratio (range vs ADR, moves in SD), it is price-scale-agnostic and carries straight over to the matching CFD.

Can I trade these setups on the corresponding CFD symbol?

Yes. The cash index or CFD your broker offers (for example US100 / NAS100, XAUUSD or BTCUSD) tracks the underlying future very closely during the cash session, so the opening-range behaviour is effectively the same. Two things to keep in mind: your broker's spread, commission and exact quote times differ slightly from the futures, and you must still measure the opening range at 09:30–09:45 New York time. Always back-test on your own broker's symbol before trading it live.

Why does the yen (6J) chart look upside-down compared to USD/JPY?

Because currency futures are quoted the other way round. A CME currency future is the foreign currency priced in US dollars — the yen future (6J) is dollars-per-yen — whereas the spot/CFD quote most people watch, USD/JPY, is yen-per-dollar. The two are inverses, so the 6J chart is flipped versus USD/JPY: when USD/JPY rises (the dollar gains on the yen) 6J falls, and vice-versa. So a short-side edge on 6J is the same trade as long USD/JPY — don't read the futures direction as the USD/JPY direction. The same flip applies to any pair normally quoted USD/XXX (USD/CHF, USD/CAD…). Pairs already quoted XXX/USD — like the British pound, where 6B matches GBP/USD — line up with their future and need no flipping.

Where does the data come from and how often is it updated?

Prices are one-minute bars from Databento (CME/COMEX GLBX.MDP3, front-month contract); macro-news dates come from the US Federal Reserve and FRED. Nothing is logged or hand-picked by eye. The whole dataset is recomputed from fresh market data automatically once a week.

How far back does the history go?

Most symbols — NQ (Nasdaq-100), ES (S&P 500), GC (gold), SI (silver), CL (crude oil), NG (natural gas), 6B (British pound), 6J (Japanese yen), 6E (euro), 6A (Australian dollar), 6S (Swiss franc), FDAX (DAX 40), NKD (Nikkei 225) and YM (Dow Jones) — reach back to 2008, roughly 4,700 trading days each. RTY (Russell 2000) starts in 2009, the year its contract became genuinely liquid. BTC (bitcoin) starts at its CME launch in December 2017. The time-horizon control lets you narrow any symbol to any recent window, right down to the last month.

Why do the displayed times sometimes shift by an hour (summer / winter time)?

All times are computed in US Eastern time and then relabelled into the timezone you choose at the top of the filters. The US and Europe switch between summer and winter time (daylight saving) on different dates — roughly two weeks apart each spring and autumn — so during those short windows the New York open lands an hour earlier or later on your local clock than usual (for example 15:30 vs 14:30 Berlin time). The opening range is always anchored to the real market open; only the clock label moves. Keep this in mind when reading the timing charts around late March and late October / early November.

How the Numbers Work
What exactly counts as a "breakout"?

A breakout is the first time price pierces the opening range after it forms. The default trigger is a touch — the moment price first reaches the edge — and the Entry control lets you switch to a 5-minute or 15-minute candle close instead (later closes give fewer trades at a higher win rate). The Entry control works on the preset or a custom opening range — free on Nasdaq, and on every market with Pro. The break direction sets the trade: Long above the range, Short below.

What does "1 SD" mean?

One SD is one full opening-range width, measured from the broken edge. It is the natural unit of risk: entering at the break with a stop at the opposite edge risks about 1 SD, so targets, drawdown and the equity curves are all expressed in SD / R multiples — comparable across instruments no matter their price.

Are the equity curves real, tradeable returns?

No — they are a simplified simulation: enter at the breakout (the edge on a touch, or the trigger candle's close), stop at the opposite edge, exit at your chosen SD target or the cash close, with no spread, commission or slippage. They exist to compare how conditions change the outcome, not as a live track record. The "Simulate costs" dropdown lets you deduct a rough per-trade cost so the curve is a little more realistic.

Why do some breakdown buckets disappear?

Any bucket with fewer than five days is hidden, because a single day showing 100% is noise, not a statistic. Widen your filters or the time horizon to bring small buckets back.

What is the "ORBit analyzer" tab and what does it show?

The ORBit analyzer (visible when you expand the tool to full width) breaks your currently-filtered trade sample down by every filter dimension — direction, day of week, volatility (ADR%), relative volume, opening trend, overnight gap, news and more — and shows the trade count, win rate, profit factor, total R and return-to-drawdown for each bucket. It is a fast way to see which conditions improve or hurt the edge. The headline directional-bias card at the top shows the long-vs-short split for your current filters.

What is the "Time and place" view?

Time and place (in the expanded tool — it fills the right side of the ORBit Observer dashboard, and is free for everyone) shows two things about trades after the breakout: how far they run (extension in SD units) and how deep they pull back (retracement as % of the range) before reversing. Both are shown as distributions — each trade lands in exactly one band — alongside timing charts showing when the peak run or deepest pullback typically forms during the session. Retracement is winners-only, so it answers "how much heat do eventual winners take?"

What is the "Seasonality" tab?

The Seasonality tab (expanded view only) is a standalone view of how the instrument behaves across the calendar year, based purely on daily price history. It shows the seasonal curve — the averaged cumulative return path through the year, with a detrend option to remove the secular trend and a current-year overlay to see how this year is tracking. Click any two points on the curve to measure that recurring calendar window: average return, win rate, years up, best and worst year, shown in a stats box beside the chart. A per-year bar chart below the curve breaks the window down year by year so you can judge how reliable the pattern is. It is a context view to read alongside your edges — it is no longer an ORB trade filter.

What is the COT report tab?

The COT (Commitments of Traders) tab shows the weekly CFTC positioning breakdown for the instrument — how many contracts commercial traders, asset managers, leveraged funds and others are holding net long or short — charted against the instrument's price on the same time axis. You can view it as raw net positions or as a 0–100 COT Index (where the current net sits inside the rolling 3-year range), with extreme zones shaded. Clicking a category isolates that line. It is a standalone context view for reading the institutional backdrop behind your trades — it is no longer an ORB trade filter. COT data is free on NQ; on other symbols it is gated by your plan.

Paid Plans and Subscriptions
Which symbols are free, and which need a subscription?

NQ (Nasdaq-100) is completely free — it just needs a free account (a one-time email link, no password) — and the entire analysis toolkit runs on it: the ORBit Analyzer, Time and place, the ORBit Overview (seasonality, COT, expected volatility, fundamentals), the equity curves with Monte Carlo and out-of-sample validation, custom opening ranges, the custom stop-loss, saved edges, the portfolio builder, the prop-firm simulator, in-tool trade charts and cross-instrument testing. The other fifteen markets are on the paid Pro plan: ES (S&P 500), GC (gold), SI (silver), CL (crude oil), NG (natural gas), BTC (bitcoin), 6B (British pound), 6J (Japanese yen), 6E (euro), 6A (Australian dollar), 6S (Swiss franc), FDAX (DAX 40), YM (Dow Jones), RTY (Russell 2000) and NKD (Nikkei 225).

How do I unlock the paid symbols?

Click any locked symbol tile to open the subscribe panel and get the Pro plan, then check out. After paying, log in with the same email and every symbol unlocks immediately — their full history loads just like NQ. You can manage or cancel your subscription any time from "Manage subscription" at the top of the page.

Is there a cheaper plan than Pro?

Not right now — there is one paid plan, Pro, which unlocks every market (current and future). We keep it simple with a single plan rather than lots of small tiers. Nasdaq (NQ) stays free forever with the whole toolkit, so you can use every feature on it at no cost before deciding.

What does a paid plan unlock?

On free Nasdaq (NQ) the whole analysis toolkit is already free — custom opening ranges, the custom stop-loss, in-tool trade charts, saved edges, the portfolio builder, the prop-firm simulator, cross-instrument testing and the live ORBit Observer all work on NQ at no cost. A paid Pro subscription adds two things: the other fifteen markets (their full history and every feature, exactly as they work on NQ), and the TradingView indicator export (send any setup to the free charting indicator). Pro also carries the Discord "Paid" role and locks your price for life.

What is the Opening Range control and what does "custom" mean?

The opening range defaults to the standard New York session range: 09:30 to 09:45 Eastern time (15 minutes). That is the range the headline NQ statistics are computed from. The Custom option opens a picker where you can set any start and end time in 5-minute steps across the whole trading session (a 15-minute minimum window) — so you can study a 30-minute range, a 1-hour range, an Asian-session open, or anything else. It is free on Nasdaq, and works on every market with Pro. The separate Entry control sets the breakout trigger — a touch (the default), or a 5- or 15-minute candle close.

What is Automation?

Automation is a separate optional add-on on top of the paid plan. Its lead item is the ORBit Analytics automated MT5 trading EA — a MetaTrader 5 expert advisor that reads the same preset string you use with the TradingView indicator and executes the ORB trade automatically, with your own risk settings. More automated tools will be added over time. The add-on layers onto your existing Pro plan so your base price stays locked. Details and pricing are on the pricing page.

How does logging in work? I never set a password.

There are no passwords. Enter your email in the "Log in" box at the top of the page and we email you a one-click magic link. Clicking it signs you in for 90 days on that browser, so an active subscriber rarely has to log in again. Your access is tied to your email, so use the same address you subscribed with.

Will my price ever go up?

No — your price is locked for life. As new symbols and features are added the list price will rise, but as long as your subscription stays active you keep the price you signed up at. Lock in early and you are grandfathered in.

How do I manage or cancel my subscription?

Use "Manage subscription" at the top of the page once logged in — it opens the secure billing portal where you can update payment details or cancel. Billing is monthly and you can cancel anytime; access runs to the end of the paid period.

I subscribed — how do I get my Discord "Paid" role?

Two quick steps, both from the Account menu at the top of the tool once you're logged in (use the same email you subscribed with). First, click Join the Discord to enter the server. Then click Connect Discord and authorise — that links your subscription to your Discord account, and the Paid role appears automatically within a moment. You need both: joining gets you into the server, connecting applies the role. If you later upgrade, change or cancel your plan, the role updates by itself — no need to reconnect.

Can I leave a review — and do I get anything for it?

Yes. Once you've been a subscriber for about three months, a Leave a review option appears in the Account menu at the top of the tool (it stays locked until then, so reviews come from people who have genuinely used the tool for a while). Write a short review — optionally with a screenshot — and once it has been checked and approved it appears on the public testimonials wall. As a thank-you for an approved review, we credit you one month free on your subscription, applied to your next invoice. It is entirely optional and your honest opinion is what we are after — a review is never required to use anything.

See the Testimonials Wall →
Using It
How do I use these statistics to plan a trade?

Open the tool at /app, pick your instrument, and set your opening-range window (free users get the 15-minute New York range). The collapsed view shows the equity curve and the headline day-outcome rates. Click "Expand to full width" to access the detailed tabs: ORBit analyzer (per-filter breakdowns, plus an out-of-sample / Monte Carlo / cross-instrument validation workbench in its dashboard), Time and place (how far trades run and how deep they pull back), ORBit Observer (a live watchlist of your saved edges), ORBit Assembler (blend several saved edges into one combined equity curve), Prop firm simulator, ORBit Overview (seasonality, COT positioning, expected volatility and a fundamentals backdrop for every market you can access), and ORBit Charts (a verifiable ledger of the last 12 months). Apply filters — day of week, trading style, volatility, relative and prior-day volume, opening trend, overnight gap, opening-range close and path, prior-day break, news and more — and every panel recomputes instantly.

Can I watch these statistics live on a chart?

Yes. The free ORBit Analytics TradingView indicator draws the setup live on your chart. Set up your filters in the tool, click Send to TradingView (in the sidebar), copy the preset string and paste it into the indicator settings. The indicator then draws the opening-range box, the extension and retracement stat lines (median, average, Q1/Q3), timing lines and a dashboard that flags when today's market conditions are outside your filter set — so you can see at a glance whether the current day matches your edge.

Can I save my filter setups and reload them later?

Yes — this is free with any account. The "Saved edges" tab in the sidebar (expanded view) lets you name and save your current filter configuration. Saved edges sync to your account so they are available on any device when you log in. Save as many as you like, and group them into watchlists — the "ORBit Observer" watchlist is the one the ORBit Observer tab scans against today's market. Anonymous (not logged-in) visitors can see the feature but need a free account to save.

What is ORBit Observer?

ORBit Observer (a tab in the expanded view, free on Nasdaq like the rest of the toolkit) is a live watchlist of your saved edges. It scans the edges in your "ORBit Observer" watchlist against today's market and shows, per edge, where it sits in the trading day — Waiting for opening rangeBuilding opening rangeWaiting for trigger once the range has formed — alongside the whole setup (opening-range time, trade type, direction, entry, target, stop) and a running "X of N in play today" count. The day-open conditions (day of week, scheduled news, holidays) are checked automatically; gap, opening trend, volatility and breakout resolve live once you connect the free ORBit Observer EA for MetaTrader 5 (it streams your broker's prices — approximate, since a CFD isn't the future). Expand any row to see every filter's setting over today's live value, and open its full setup in one click.

Can I share an edge with someone, or load one they shared with me?

Yes. Every saved edge has a Share button that creates a link. Posting that link — in Discord, on X/Twitter, on Facebook, anywhere — unfurls a preview card showing the edge's real equity curve and headline numbers; anyone who opens the link gets the exact setup loaded into their own tool. The Share popup has one-click buttons for X, Facebook and Reddit, a Discord button (copies the link and opens the server to paste in your channel) and a "Download image" button for Instagram (post the picture, drop the link in your caption). To load a setup someone sent you, use the Import edge button under "Save current setup": paste the share code (or just open the link) and you'll see what it contains before adding it. A shared edge only loads on a market you have access to — if you're not subscribed to that market you'll get a clear note with a link to the plans.

What is the Portfolio builder?

The Portfolio builder (in the expanded tool — it fills the right side of the ORBit Assembler dashboard, and is free on Nasdaq) lets you combine several saved edges — even across different instruments — into a single blended equity curve. Select the edges you want in the Saved edges tile (right beside it on the same dashboard) and hit "Add to portfolio", and the tool resolves each edge's trade stream independently and merges them in date order. A "Split risk" toggle models a fixed total-risk budget spread across all strategies (each trade risks 1/N of a unit) rather than stacking full risk on each. You get a combined equity curve, metrics and a Monte Carlo simulation of the blended strategy.

What is the Prop firm simulator and is it free?

The Prop firm simulator (the "Prop firm" tab in expanded view) is completely free for everyone — no paid plan needed. It takes your current filtered trade sample and bootstrap-resamples it into thousands of simulated challenge attempts under the rules of popular prop firms (Topstep, Apex, Lucid, FTMO, The5%ers). It reports your estimated pass rate, cost to get funded (challenge fee ÷ pass rate + activation fee), expected first payout and net EV. Presets for the most common firms are built in; every parameter is editable.

Will you add more symbols and features?

The tool covers sixteen futures markets today — picked for the real intraday liquidity an opening-range tool needs. There is no fixed list of what comes next: new markets and features get built when they are genuinely worth building, and what members ask for in the Discord carries a lot of weight.

Can I request a feature or a new statistic?

Yes. Reach out with your idea and if I consider it at least worth testing, I will build it and run my own checks. Several of the filters and panels here started as user requests, so every promising idea gets a fair shot — not all of them make it in, but each one is genuinely considered. Contact me here:

How do I let the EA connect? (WebRequest whitelist)

The ORBit EA pulls your preset and broker symbol map from our server, so MetaTrader 5 has to allow it to reach that address. You only do this once per terminal:

1. In MetaTrader 5, open Tools → Options (or press Ctrl+O).
2. Go to the Expert Advisors tab.
3. Tick Allow WebRequest for listed URL.
4. Double-click the empty row in the list below that checkbox, paste the address from the box below, then press Enter so it appears as a line in the list.
5. Make sure the new line shows a green tick (not a red cross), then click OK.
6. If the EA is already running, remove it from the chart and drag it back on so it picks up the permission.

Tip: add the address exactly as shown — MT5 matches it character-for-character, and the EA can only reach a URL that is on this list. This step is not needed in the Strategy Tester — it has no internet access, so load the Preset File and Symbol Map there instead.

https://orbit-api.tlfx.workers.dev
Is any of this trading advice?

No. Everything here is historical market-behaviour data for education only. Past behaviour is not a prediction of the future, and trading financial instruments carries substantial risk.

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