Jesse RogersFounder and CEO of Smart Trading Blueprint

The First 5 Minute Candle Strategy That Works (Easy To Spot)

14 Nov 2025 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:02

A short tutorial by Jesse Rogers describing the "first candle rule": mark the high/low of the 5-minute candle that forms between 9:30–9:35am, drop to a 1-minute chart and wait for a break defined by a fair value gap, enter with stop loss at the first candle that closed outside the 5-minute range, and use a fixed 2:1 risk-to-reward target.

Questions this video answers

The 5-minute candle that forms between 9:30 and 9:35am.

The 1-minute chart.

A fair value gap (not a candle closure or wick).

At the first candle that closed outside of the 5-minute range.

A fixed 2 to 1 risk-to-reward.

Chapters

I only use one candle to trade every single day. And it is so stupid simple that even a complete beginner couldn't mess this up. You see, while everyone else is overcomplicating their trading and analyzing a million time frames, I focus on just one thing. Now I've come to call this strategy the first candle rule. And here's how it works. First, mark the high and low of the 5 minute candle that forms between 9:30 and 9:35am Then drop down to the 1 minute chart and wait for a break. Now, to confirm a good break, we need a specific type of behavior. And no, it's not a candle closure and definitely not just a wick. What we're looking for is a fair value gap. This shows us that the big players are pushing the market and we want to be on the same side of the market as them. Once this happens, we enter our trade and we put our stop loss at the first candle that closed outside of the range. You don't have to wait for the market to trade back into the fair value gap because the market is likely to run very quickly. And for your target, you just use a fixed 2 to 1 risk to reward. Now I want you to save this. That way you can study the strategy when it comes time to trade.