Intraday momentum index
Applies RSI-style logic to a security's open and close prices within each session, blending candlestick analysis with momentum.
What the numbers mean
The lookback works like RSI's, but gains and losses are measured from open to close within each bar rather than from close to close. Fourteen is the usual setting, carried over from RSI convention.
- 14 — the lookback, carried over from RSI convention
- 70 / 30 — the standard extremes
- Gains and losses are measured open-to-close within each bar, not close-to-close
How it is used
Built for intraday traders who care whether sessions are closing above or below their own opens — 70/30 extremes are read the same way, and it is popular as a timing tool for short-dated options.
- Read like RSI, but describing sessions rather than closes
- Popular with short-dated options traders for timing
- Most meaningful on instruments with a real opening auction
How it relates to everything else
IMI sits between RSI and candlestick analysis: it asks the question a candle body answers — did this session close above or below its open — and accumulates it into an RSI-style reading.
- RSI's formula applied to candle bodies
- Loses meaning on 24-hour instruments where the open is arbitrary
- Compare against RSI: divergence between them says the gaps are doing the work
What to watch for
It is only meaningful where the open is meaningful. On instruments that trade continuously, open-to-close says much less than it does on a 9:30-to-4:00 session.