Forex guide · 7 min read · Updated 8 October 2026

A London session strategy for GBPUSD

A rules based London session strategy: mark the Asia range, wait for London to sweep one side, confirm with a change of character and enter on the pullback.

The London session is the busiest time of day for the pound. A large share of GBPUSD’s daily move often happens in the first few hours after 08:00 UK time. This guide sets out one way to trade it with written rules: the Asia range sweep.

The idea

Overnight, Asia builds a range. Traders’ stop losses collect just above its high and below its low. When London opens, price often runs one side of that range to take those stops, then reverses. We trade the reversal, not the run.

The rules

1. Mark the Asia range from 00:00 to 06:00 UK time: its highest high and lowest low.
2. Wait for London to sweep one side. Price must trade at least a pip beyond the level. We never trade the push itself.
3. Check it is a sweep, not a breakout. If candles keep closing beyond the level, or price runs more than about 12 pips past it, stand aside.
4. Wait for the change of character. A candle closes back inside the range and through the last swing before the sweep.
5. Enter on the pullback, when price retraces toward that level and a candle turns back your way.
6. Stop just beyond the sweep, 10 pips at most. Target the other side of the range, or a 4 hour, daily or weekly level beyond it, at least 1:3.

When there is no trade

Plenty of days give no setup: the range isn’t swept, the sweep turns into a breakout, or there is no change of character in time. No setup, no trade. Those days are part of the strategy, not a failure of it.

Learn it properly

The free course walks through every step with short animations. You can practise on real past days, and see every day analysed on the daily GBPUSD pages.