Defining Daily Candles in 24/7 Markets
Why daily candle definitions matter when applying Turtle-style systems to crypto and other always-open markets.
Traditional futures markets have sessions. Crypto markets trade continuously. That makes the definition of a daily candle a system decision, not a trivial display setting.
Why the boundary matters
A daily high, daily low and channel breakout depend on where the day begins and ends. UTC candles, exchange-local candles and custom session candles can produce different signals.
Choose once
The system should define:
- the timezone used for daily candles;
- whether exchange candles or reconstructed candles are used;
- how missing data is handled;
- whether backtest and live signals use the same boundary.
Review impact
If two platforms disagree on a breakout, the first question should be whether they define candles the same way. A rule-based system needs one source of truth.