London Calling . . . Various strategies focusing on London Open

Greetings fellow Pipsters.

My hope for this thread is that it will be a colaborative effort by those interested in trading the London Open. I have put together a "London Calling" resource page that i will update as new strategies are shared in this thread.

Why "London Calling" ??? Well back in the 80's i ran several music stores and remember a popular release by "The Clash" called "London Calling". . .

http://www.accrete.com/fx-LondonCalling/lc-image.gif

...recently i knew i wanted to create a page devoted to resources focused on various strategies used by currency traders during the open of the London Currency Market. And today, for what ever crazy reason, i found myself humming a few bars of the once popular song! and thus began this public project.

OK, so the next post will be the first mt4 indicator resource, a couple of examples of an indicator that "Hapalkos" codded.

Any of you that have resources, please feel free to post them here or email/PM me and i can get them up at our resource page. I think this would be a cool tool/resource as so many of us are focusing on this particular market open...and there is soooooo much money to be made here! So lets get a great resource thread/page for our fellow Pipsters to use and grab those pips!

Happy Trading,
Thom

Here are a couple of MT4 chart setups with indicator links.

http://www.accrete.com/fx-LondonCall...ox5example.gif

Above is a screen shot of an MT4 chart utilizing the Box5_LondonOpenHL.mq4 and Box5_LondonOpenOC.mq4


http://www.accrete.com/fx-LondonCall...nBOexample.gif

Above is a screen shot of an MT4 chart utilizing the Box5_Frankfurt2LondonOpen.mq4

These indicators are discussed at length in the Box Breakout indicator thread here at the Factory. These are just two recent examples of what others have come up with to visually highlight the London Open price action.

. . . what about your strategy? High/Low of a particular period leading up to the L.O.? Some particular indicator or price action setups?

Cheers,
Thom

Look forward to some good info,

All the best.

A

Awesome idea Accrete!

Thom

Great Idea, I only trade the London opening so this is a must for me, we appear to be going along the same lines....


Glenn

Great idea- After Midnight- we're gonna let it all hang down- A throwback J.J. Cale tune that rings appropriate for my timeframe.

Thom

I now have that dam song in my head...lol..

Hi Alex. Hows it going ? good to see you here..

Glenn

" I dont like Mondays" Boom Town Rats.....


Glenn.

Greetings all, glad you stopped by. . . and Glenn : LOL on the "Song on your mind" !!! And you started me off with all your pretty boxes in your Time1 indicator : ) I remember a few times of a customer humming a tune asking me who the artist was. Most of the time i knew the answer, sometimes not. . . then in the wee hours of the morning i'd wake up and have an "AHA" moment! haha.

I think we could really do something worth while here as there are so many people concentrating on this little slice of the "24 hour" market. I know that it is certainly my most profitable trading window. I find myself giving back pips if i trade beyond 10amIsh London Time (that's 2am here on the Oregon-USA coast). So even though it is a chore of sorts, and at times the toothpicks tend to poke the ol' eye lids, it's worth the trouble IMO.

I would hope that none would be timid or shy about sharing whatever tips or tricks or strategies are bringing in the pips when "London is Calling". grin.

Cheers,
Thom

sound like SRDC III

how about Asia session and US session?

Hey Glenn good to see you as well. How are your London breakouts going? I've been looking at the breakout method together with minimising the time I look at charts.

Chat soon.

A

amenlo9

The London opening is really the only session you can trade from a box setup and this is due to the fact that the GBP is traded very little outside of the London session.

Therefore the hour before ( Frankfurt Opening) and the two hours after London opens are the most volatile.

I have enclosed a chart to show the movement after 08.00 GMT.

One is using the Time1 indicator the other is using Thom and hapalkos indicator Breakout box 5 I think it is....

Glenn

Thom,

What a great idea!! This will give us a chance to throw a few ideas around and remember a few tunes. Developing different aspects of the Breakout Box was great fun. I welcome the opportunity to explore strategies to put it to good use.

hap

HAPALKOS!! we are honored with your doodling expertise and presence!!

I did some simplifying today and might have cleaned up my charts a bit?? Anywhooo, below is a screenshot of one of the charts, on my tradestation i have a second chart with only candles and manual fibos/trend-lines on a daily chart. All files and templates for this full size image and what you see below are located in this folder, have fun, feel free to tweak and doodle. . . share your ideas. By no means is this "the" way to trade the L.O. it's just one way, the basic breakout from Asian session "Box". I look forward to the set ups shown/shared by others.

POST SCRIPT ADITION : While watching the chart setup below tonight i realized there was a small tweak that needed to take place. That is the time is now set to 08:59 which would close the candle at 09:00. The way i had it set earlier it would have closed the session at 09:15 (or 7:15 am London time)... here are the settings as i have them now:

extern string periodA_begin = "00:00";
extern string periodA_end = "08:59";
extern int nextDayA = 0;

extern string periodB_end = "11:59";
extern int nextDayB = 0;
--------end of POST SCRIPT EDIT.

On a side note, i did include the ex4 file of my "DOBRO" indicator which is a study in "Harmonic Beats" that i've mentioned elsewhere. Just open up the user panel and set the baseline to the daily open. You will be pleasantly surprised at how the price action plays off the "beat" lines. Look at how freaky perfect the price stopped to the pip at the 9650 line then down to one beat line below the open at 9620. . . sure you say "50 & 20" are natural stall points...but then today's beat lines are at those locations because the day opened at 9635...add/subtract 1/8th of a "Harmonic Beat"??? which is 15 pips and you get the next possible target/stall points.

Good Trading. I'm thinking that with yesterdays long wick on the bull candle that we might have a bit of a rise upon open?? Time will tell.

: ) Thom

http://accrete.com/fx-LondonCalling/...nCallingSm.gif

heres something about a so called "big ben strategy"...which is a opening range breakout thing...i didnt stepped in it, but cable could be a candidate for the ACD method by mark fisher

Hi Peter, welcome to the LC think tank. The Big Ben Strategy PDF is up at the resource page. Anyone else have any links/documents we can place up there that focus on the L.O. ?? I know i have a link somewhere for John Carter's "Box Play" that might be relevant to our discussion here...i'll dig.

POST SCRIPT... I found the original article on the "BOX PLAY" and it's up at the page, and here is the direct link for your viewing pleasure...BOX PLAY at SFO magazine looking for this set up is part of my nightly routine as the Asian market period will often produce this setup on the GBP and EURO pairs... Just another feather in our thinking cap for ways to grab some pips when London's Calling.

: ) Thom

OK, how about some discussion on what you all are using as "Filters"... i can think of several that may apply; Box Plays, Breakouts, MA crossovers, MA "Tunnel" breakouts, ADX, RSI, MACD...the list is nearly as endless as there are traders! But what is working for you during your London Open session? (Hey Glenn i read your excellent post over at the Box Breakout Indicator thread on how you are using that for setups...care to share on that in our thread here?)

Here are two charts i used last nite. The first is already familiar as it has Hapalko's nice "Box5" indicator set to the settings i mentioned in a post above...the session has now progressed to include the whole open session in the screen shot (my window to typicaly trade is the time represented as the solid Lime box):

http://www.accrete.com/fx-LondonCall...2007-03-01.gif

The thick solid blue and red lines i placed while watching the above setup switched down to 5m and noticing the multiple tags that looked as though a "Box Play" was setting up.

Then on the chart below which was beside the above chart (it's the one that once you get past the 5m has only candles, and sometimes an ADX on the hourly or daily), i saw that price had already moved from the upper HighMA through the MedianMA and had broken the lower LowMA on the 5m chart as we neared 7am London time...

http://www.accrete.com/fx-LondonCall...2007-03-01.gif

...my entry was at 9605 with my first TP at 9590, and second at 9575...(it's that Harmonic Beath theory again). If you recall from my prior post these HB lines were set at the beginning of the new day, and look here at more examples of how price action played off the "Beats", giving heads up on possible areas to look for stalls of price.

i'm glad i did not get greedy because this turned out to be what might be labled a "German Head Fake". Though after the bullish move, price did continue in the original position. But i had my trade closed out actually before 8am London and was out for the day.

: ) I like nites like this cuz i can hit the hay by midnite! Though i will admit those head fakes have fooled me at times and given pips to others in the process. . . and speaking of pips to others. . . my stops are typicaly at the opposite side of the MAtunnel and tweaked to include nearby S/R areas.

So what are YOUR filters for entering??

Cheers,
Thom

Hi Thom.

Firstly a e-book.....Have a look if you think its any use maybe pop it on your site, I will hunt through my files for others..

This is my setup and how I trade the london opening.
GBP/USD. 1 Hour Charts.

I use the indicator Time1..

Set to 00.00-07.59..GMT.
the Indicator is based on a time box only, and will form the box from the H/L of the period you set.
When the box is completed I transfer the H/L lines to a 15min chart.

Do not trade inside the box , wait for the new candle at 8.00, when this has passed either box line. Wait for the next 15min candle to open and if it moves away from the box you have a trade.
Do not put a buy/sell order on the box line as it can be triggered and then the pair will reverse, leaving you with a nice loss.

I look for 15-20 pips to start with, because often the pair will move out and then re-enter the box , If the move contiunes then I wait for 30 pips profit and then I move my SL to breakout ( including pip spread) and then run a trailing stop.

If the pair breakout and then re-enter I do not enter a trade in that direction again that day...

The GBY/JPY can be traded the same way at London opening ."Do it with caution."

I also run a ADX and RSI you will also see Channels and S/R and I have a habit of putting trendlines, for this I use the middle candle of 5 as per the rules I also use a indicator line from the 6th candle..

I have posted a chart so you can see the setup.

any Question's I will be happy to answer....

Glenn

Just wanted to contribute here. I too trade the London open using a box strategy. I set sell or buy orders at the high/low 20 bars back starting at 1:45 am EST. It seems to work fairly well, although you have to watch for failed breakouts, but even failed breakouts present you with opportunities. In fact it seems signals generated from failed breakouts are more reliable than the breakout signals themselves.

Thom.

moving away abit from the London opening but remaining on box play....what do you think of a indicator that would take the H/L and when it qualifies would start to paint it. The qualification would be three points of contact top and bottom.

This could then be used any time....

Just a thought....

Glenn