The purpose of this template is to determine trends identified using the VIX. This is not an indicator that calls tops or bottoms. The way it is designed, it WILL NOT call tops or bottoms. Additionally there is no VIX signal from 0915 to 0930 EST because options are not trading then. That is super important to understand.
The templates become more difficult to use on the open. There is not a $VIX trend.
Because options may have expired at the previous close, the VIX9D may open away from the close and have a gap up or gap down.
In this example, we had a bearish gap up, and the 5 minute bar continued to rise. Had it been falling, your decisions are more difficult and likely long trades may have been favored and working.
The VIX option templates seam to preform better at the open than the VIX9D, because it is less susceptible to big movements because of options expiring the day before. There is a significant amount of options that are day traded on expiration day. So this creates a skew at the open.