ORB Strategy Performance Analysis: Asia vs. London/NY Sessions for Gold Trading

The trader documented their 81st day of applying a 5-minute Opening Range Breakout (ORB) strategy to gold futures during the Asia session, resulting in a small loss due to weak follow-through and fakeouts [source: Reddit]. Key Reddit insights include:

• Session Timing Issues
  : The trader acknowledged timezone confusion, initially trading 2 hours early for the Asia open, later clarifying they trade futures open rather than Tokyo exchange open [source: Reddit]
• Strategy Transparency
  : Questions arose about manual PnL entry, which the OP confirmed, and requests for comprehensive strategy sharing, with the OP indicating incremental release pending optimization [source: Reddit]
• Contradictory Experience
  : Another user (tehfadez1) reported success using ORB during Asia open to accommodate their schedule, directly contradicting the OP’s conclusion about session superiority [source: Reddit]

The ORB strategy establishes an opening range using the first 5-15 minutes of trading, entering positions on confirmed breakouts [citation:1][citation:2]. For gold trading, the standard approach uses a 15-minute range (9:30-9:45 AM EST) with 5-minute chart entries [citation:1].

: Despite comprehensive research of 2025 data, no empirical evidence definitively validates session-specific ORB performance for gold markets. While general ORB backtests show impressive results (41.90% CAGR, 2327.77% total return), these lack session breakdowns [citation:3][citation:4].

: Gold has shown significant volatility in 2025 with 64.29% year-over-year gains and intraday movements of nearly 1% [citation:5]. The London/New York session overlap historically provides higher liquidity and volatility, theoretically benefiting ORB strategies [citation:1][citation:6].

The Reddit trader’s conclusion that ORB performs better in London/NY sessions aligns with theoretical market structure advantages but lacks empirical validation. The contradictory experience from another Reddit user suggests individual execution, risk management, and session-specific adaptations may be more critical than session selection alone.

: Research shows most ORB implementations for gold focus on New York session timing (9:30-9:45 AM EST) [citation:1][citation:6], potentially creating a self-fulfilling prophecy where strategy optimization biases performance toward those sessions.

:

• Limited empirical data may lead to flawed session selection
• Timezone confusion can result in trading outside optimal liquidity windows
• Strategy sharing without comprehensive backtesting may propagate suboptimal approaches

:

• Gap exists for session-specific ORB optimization research
• Asia session ORB could offer advantages for traders in different time zones with proper adaptation
• Incremental strategy sharing approach allows for real-time optimization based on community feedback

: Traders should focus on session-specific optimization rather than avoiding certain sessions entirely, particularly given gold’s 2025 volatility and the potential for profitable ORB setups across all major trading sessions with appropriate adjustments.