Debunking Al Brook's 90 Minute Theory (81% Win Rate Strategy)

Al Brook's states that on the E-Mini S&P500 after the first 90 minutes, we have a 90% chance of seeing the high or low of the day. I dug through the data myself from 6-28-2024 to 5-17-2024. Below (and in the video) is what I found.

First, I changed my timeframe to 90 minutes to make this task super easy. Then recorded all the of the 90 minute ranges within an excel sheet. This was not required for the research but, I had other plans for my blog. Then I looked to see what days the high and low were breached. These days were counted as days that disproved Al's theory. There were 12 where the high and low were breached.



17/29 = ~59%

There you have it, 59% the time the 90 minute range is either the high or the low of the day. But, what could you do with this information?

Since I already calculated the ranges, I had a good starting place. I tried to take the full average 90 minute range (22pts) and 1:1 Reward to Risk Ratio (R/R) indicators and place the entry at the closing price of the 90 minute bar. I didn't see any pattern that made since and the losers were considerably bigger than the winners. After making this video, I realized I should have only used half of the range. I think there is still work to be done here.

Anyway, I went through each opening range and looked for the distance of breakouts they had before turning around. I still used the R/R indicator for this but, that was just to get a measurement of points. At this point (no pun), I knew I could take an average of points from the range breakout and apply them to make a strategy.

If the original data says 59% chance we have seen the high or low of the day. That means if the next bar breaks the high or low of the range that we still haven't seen the high or low yet. A strategy with a 59% win rate really only needs a 1:1 R/R (without fees and commissions) to be profitable. So, I measured out 26.50 (this was the average breakout) on the R/R indicator for both a profit target and a stop loss. The entry was the first break of either the high or low.

The results were about 50/50 but, the total points collected was around 81.50pts over 29 days. Using a pretty mindless set and forget strategy. The one caveat was that positions that didn't hit stops or targets had to be closed out at EOD.

Well, 50/50 and 81 points of profit isn't bad but, what if we had a string of big loser and the strategy ended up 40/60 or something? Then we would be screwed. So, I applied a turtle trading technique where I only entered after a loser. If I won, I had to wait for another loser to appear. I couldn't trade a string of winners.

This is where the money shot is! There were a total of 11 trades when applying the turtle method. 9 of the 11 trades were winnings for a whopping 81% and 136pts over 29 days. What a set and forget strategy, huh!?



Ok Joe, but what about Al Brook's and his theory? Well, we have a small sample size here. Its a great starting place. I don't know what Al's sample size was nor do I know the timeframe in which this theory was developed. Markets are forever changing and I think that may be the case for this theory.