London range breakout
Studies expansion beyond a precisely timed pre-London range.
Use the one-page practice checklist
Keep the exact settings, long and short triggers, stop, no-trade filters and management rule beside the chart while you replay this method.
Worked example for demo practice, not a live trade signal.Keep the chart simple
What needs to be in place first
- Timezone and daylight-saving handling are fixed
- Pre-session range meets min/max width
- Spread and scheduled-event limits are satisfied
See london range breakout from both sides
Choose a direction and follow the chart from setup to entry, stop and planned exit. The method stays the same; only the directional comparisons reverse.
Entry is above the trigger, invalidation is below the setup and a profit exit is above the entry.
- EEntryLONG ENTRY — next M15 open
- SStop / risk limitSTOP / INVALIDATION — midpoint
- TTargetTARGET — fixed 1.5R
The synthetic M15 chart follows the canonical clock and DST convention. The 28 pre-07:00 M15 candles are compressed into the shaded teaching window; a qualified close enters next open, with the midpoint stop and fixed 1.5R target.
NO TRADE on a UK bank holiday, around a blocked event, above the spread limit, outside the 0.75–2.00 ATR range-width band, or after 10:00 London.Check the market first
Range width must be between 0.75 and 2.00 × ATR(14) measured at 07:00.
Wait for the entry rule
Enter at the next M15 open after the first completed 07:00–10:00 candle closes at least 0.10 × ATR beyond the frozen range high or low.
Place the stop before entry
Place the stop at the frozen range midpoint. Risk 0.25% of equity, rounded down to 0.01 lot, because session gaps and spread expansion are material.
Know how the trade ends
Place a fixed 1.5R target. Close any remainder at the 10:00 London bar close.
Worked example: London 00:00–07:00 range breakout
This version of London range breakout chooses one answer for every decision so you can repeat it. Treat the settings as a starting point to test, not as proven or recommended parameters.
EUR/USD and GBP/USD M15; Europe/London clock with IANA daylight-saving changes; both directions.
Build the range from candles opening at 00:00 through 06:45 London time; trade only from 07:00 through 10:00.
Store UTC timestamps alongside London labels so historical DST conversion remains auditable.
Plot the completed 00:00–07:00 London high, low and midpoint; freeze them at 07:00.
Add Wilder ATR(14) on M15; convert spread to pips at each decision.
Use an official economic calendar list prepared before the session; flag high-impact GBP, EUR and USD events.
Give every tool one job
Direction, timing, volatility and risk are different questions. This stack assigns them rather than asking one indicator to do everything.
Defines the pre-session boundary from an explicit London clock.
Normalises range eligibility and the minimum close-through distance.
Applies a predeclared event exclusion; it does not predict the breakout direction.
- Range width must be between 0.75 and 2.00 × ATR(14) measured at 07:00.
- Displayed spread at signal and entry must be no more than 1.5 pips on EUR/USD or 2.0 pips on GBP/USD.
- No flagged event may occur from 30 minutes before entry through 60 minutes after it, and the date must not be a UK bank holiday.
Enter at the next M15 open after the first completed 07:00–10:00 candle closes at least 0.10 × ATR beyond the frozen range high or low.
Place the stop at the frozen range midpoint. Risk 0.25% of equity, rounded down to 0.01 lot, because session gaps and spread expansion are material.
Place a fixed 1.5R target. Close any remainder at the 10:00 London bar close.
Cancel the day after 10:00, after one entry, when range/spread/event eligibility fails, or when the next-open gap is greater than 0.25 × ATR beyond the signal close.
Replay from Bid/Ask where available; otherwise use a 1.2-pip EUR/USD or 1.8-pip GBP/USD spread plus 0.2-pip adverse slippage per fill and zero commission.
Move through the chart one decision at a time
- 00:00–07:00: build
EUR/USD forms a 32-pip range from 1.0810 to 1.0842. At 07:00 ATR(14) is 28 pips, so width is 1.14 ATR and qualifies.
- 07:00: freeze
High, low and 1.0826 midpoint are locked; the UTC equivalent and current Europe/London offset are stored.
- 07:30: filter
Spread is 1.1 pips, the prepared calendar has no event in the blackout window and the date is not a UK bank holiday.
- 07:45: signal
The completed M15 candle closes at 1.0846, exceeding the high by 4 pips; 0.10 ATR is 2.8 pips, so the close qualifies.
- 08:00: enter
Enter at the next open plus frozen slippage. Stop remains the 1.0826 midpoint; size the 0.25% risk and set 1.5R once.
- By 10:00: resolve
Record stop or target if touched first; otherwise close at the 10:00 bar close and retain the actual cost assumptions.
A rejected example
Reject a 07:45 close above the range when UK CPI is scheduled for 08:00. A later clean-looking move does not retroactively remove the calendar exclusion.
Common variations
- Separate variant only: stop-entry at the range edge.
- Separate variant only: opposite-edge stop rather than midpoint stop.
- Separate variant only: a 23:00–07:00 UTC range; do not combine it with the Europe/London sample.
Rebuild this method on the platform you use
The written rules work independently of the charting app. Match the same feed, timeframe, indicator settings and completed-candle timing before comparing results.
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Keep every test organised.
The CSV gives you one place to record the setup, costs, execution, outcome and whether you followed your rules.
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