Which open type is the strongest?

The open-drive shows the most conviction: price leaves the open immediately and does not return to it. It is also the easiest to misjudge in the first minutes, since an open-test-drive or a rejection can start the same way. The type is only settled once the first brackets have traded.

Do open types apply to 24-hour futures?

They were defined for the regular session open, when most participants arrive. On futures that trade almost around the clock, they are usually applied to the regular trading hours open, such as 8:30 Chicago time for US index futures, with the overnight session treated as context.

Market Profile open types

Market Profile open types classify how a regular session begins: open-drive, open-test-drive, open-rejection-reverse and open-auction, in decreasing order of early conviction. Described in Dalton's Mind Over Markets, they are read together with where the market opens relative to the previous day's value and range.

Senzoukria · Glossary · Updated September 2026

The four opens

Open types in decreasing order of conviction
Open	What happens after the open	What it suggests
Open-drive	Price drives in one direction from the first prints and does not trade back through the open	Strong, early other-timeframe conviction
Open-test-drive	Price first tests a nearby reference in one direction, finds no business, then drives the other way	Conviction after a check of the other side
Open-rejection-reverse	Price moves one way, is rejected, and trades back through the open	Initial move not accepted; weaker conviction
Open-auction	Price rotates around the open with no early direction	No early conviction; balance likely at first

Where the market opens

Within the previous day's value area: balance is the default expectation, and the open type says whether it will be broken early.
Outside value but within the previous range: the market must show whether the new prices are accepted or rejected.
Outside the previous range: an imbalance at the open, where an open-drive in the same direction and a rejection back into the range tell opposite stories.

A worked example

The previous session's value area is 4,990.00 to 5,005.00. The regular session opens at 5,008.00, above value. In the first minutes, price dips to 5,004.00, just inside value, where offers are thin and bids absorb the selling; it then rallies and never trades back below 5,008.00, reaching 5,020.00 in the first hour. The test of the previous value area high followed by a drive the other way is an open-test-drive. Had price instead fallen back into value and stayed there, the open would have been an open-rejection-reverse.

In Senzoukria

The Market Profile (TPO) overlay with the 'RTH indices (8:30–15:00 CT)' period and 'Open & close markers' marks each regular-hours profile's open, and 'TPO letters' show how the first brackets developed around it. The Opening Drive overlay marks a session whose first bars, three by default, all have bodies in the same direction on above-average volume; it follows the indicator engine's session, which starts at 17:00 Chicago time on CME futures, so on ES and NQ it describes the start of the Globex session rather than the 8:30 regular open. The Opening Range overlay has the same anchor. There is no open-type classifier.

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Frequently asked questions

Which open type is the strongest?: The open-drive shows the most conviction: price leaves the open immediately and does not return to it. It is also the easiest to misjudge in the first minutes, since an open-test-drive or a rejection can start the same way. The type is only settled once the first brackets have traded.
Do open types apply to 24-hour futures?: They were defined for the regular session open, when most participants arrive. On futures that trade almost around the clock, they are usually applied to the regular trading hours open, such as 8:30 Chicago time for US index futures, with the overnight session treated as context.

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