When to trade gold: London, New York and the overlap

Gold trades almost around the clock from Monday to Friday, but liquidity is not spread evenly. The London open, the New York open and the hours when both are active carry most of it.

Why liquidity matters

More participants mean tighter spreads and fills closer to your intended price. In quiet hours, spreads widen and a single order can move price further. For a rule-based strategy, that difference shows up directly in results: slippage is the difference between a backtest and reality.

The three windows that matter

• London open: European banks and funds start trading; volatility usually picks up.
• New York open: US participants arrive, often around US economic data releases.
• The overlap: both centres active at once, usually the deepest liquidity of the day.

The Asian session is often quieter and range-bound. Many sweep and reversal ideas use its high and low as reference levels for later in the day.

Data releases: liquidity, not direction

Around major releases, the first candle is mostly liquidity being taken, not new information. Spreads widen and moves often reverse within minutes. Decide before the release whether to size down or stand aside, not during it.

Context first, trigger second

A valid pattern in the wrong context is not a trade. Most losing trades are lower-timeframe entries taken against the higher-timeframe picture. Waiting is a position too, which is why a disciplined system sits idle for large parts of the day.

How Trade Routes handles it

In Trade Routes, you choose the session start and end, and a maximum-spread setting skips entries when the spread is too wide.