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Session breaks

Vertical markers separating the regular trading session from overnight or global sessions on a 24-hour chart.

Instruments like index futures and forex trade nearly around the clock, but participation is wildly uneven. Session breaks divide the chart so you can see where the New York cash open, the london-session or the overnight range begins and ends.

This matters because levels formed in thin overnight trade behave differently from levels formed on heavy daytime volume. The overnight-high-low frequently acts as a target early in the day precisely because it was set by fewer participants and is easier to run.

Enable session separators and session-anchored tools such as session-vwap and the opening-range. A chart with no session structure treats 3am and 10am as equally meaningful, which they are not.

Related: opening-range, london-session

See it drawn

Original diagrams for the ideas on this page. Illustrative, not real market data.

A range beside a trendOne chart swinging between a flat floor and ceiling, another stepping upwards inside a pair of sloping lines.Range-boundresistancesupportprice bounces between two levelsTrendingthe trend channelhigher highs and higher lowsA range has two flat edges; a trend has two sloping ones.
Range versus trend. On the left price keeps bouncing between the same floor and ceiling, which is a range. On the right each high and each low is higher than the last, inside a pair of sloping lines called a channel.

Educational only, not advice. Spotted an error? Post in Site Feedback.