The “ONE CANDLE" Scalping Strategy I Will Use For Life

Capture the Opening Edge in the First 90 Minutes Most intraday opportunity concentrates in the first 90 minutes of trade. The Quick Flip Scalper harnesses that window with a simple, repeatable three-step routine built for consistency. Mastering this open-centered process becomes the foundation for reliable scalps.

Frame the Day by Boxing the First 15-minute Range On a 15-minute chart, let the first candle fully close, then draw and extend a box from its high to its low. This opening range becomes the battlefield for the rest of the session and later supplies precise profit targets at its high and low. The structure works across assets as long as the 15-minute window is respected.

Spot the Liquidity Grab With a 25% ATR Threshold A liquidity (manipulation) candle is a fast, one-direction surge that triggers clustered stops to create the volume institutions need to transact. These engineered moves appear often and tend to reverse once the orders are filled—that reflex is the edge. Confirm one by checking if the opening candle’s range is at least 25% of the 14-day ATR; readings a bit under the mark can still be used.

Wait for a Clean Reversal Outside the Box, Then Execute Drop to a 5-minute or lower timeframe and wait for a hammer or inverted hammer, or a bullish or bearish engulfing, to print outside the box within 90 minutes of the open. If no valid pattern appears outside the range in time, pass and wait for the next day. Enter on the break (or at the prior candle’s high/low for engulfings), place the stop beyond the wick extreme, and target the opening range boundaries for clean exits.

NAS100 Case Study: Inverted Hammer Reversal to Range Low On NASDAQ 100, a strong green opening candle established the range, then an inverted hammer formed above it roughly 45 minutes after the bell. Shorting the break with a stop over the high and a target at the box low delivered a large win relative to a small stop. Similar reversals on neighboring days showed how frequently liquidity opens snap back.

NVDA Live Example: Bullish Engulfing From Liquidity Flush In a live NVDA trade, the first 15-minute drop exceeded roughly a quarter of ATR, confirming a liquidity event and setting the box. A bullish engulfing printed below the range on the 5-minute chart; a limit at the prior red candle’s high triggered, the stop sat beneath the swing low, and the target was the box top. Price re-entered the range and hit target with about 2.7:1 reward-to-risk, and such setups are often more prominent in individual stocks than in broad indexes. Outcomes remain probabilistic, so stick to the 90-minute rule and review the edge regularly across markets.