XAUUSD micro-range break after the London open spike settles

[LondonScalper]

After the London open spike, gold often settles into a short micro-range. That range’s break has been more tradable for me than the spike itself.

I wait for the spike to finish and for a small balance to form — overlapping bars, clearer high and low, less panic. Break and shallow retest of that micro-range, aligned with the higher M5 bias, is the scalp. Breaking both ways in succession means stand aside; that is chop wearing a breakout costume.

Time stop is short — these are not afternoon holds. I also refuse the micro-range break if a metals-moving print is imminent; settling then restarting into news is a different game.

The edge, if there is one, is mostly sitting on your hands during the fireworks.

If the micro-range never forms and gold just trends, I do not invent a box — continuation pullback is a different card.

• Do you trade the post-spike micro-range on gold?
• How do you decide the spike is "settled"?

Quiet edge if you can wait.

[PropScalpDesk]

For "settled" I use something I can count rather than a feeling: three consecutive M1 bars that overlap each other and each have less than half the range of the average spike bar, with the spread back to its normal level. Until both conditions hold, there's no box.

The break target is modest, one height of the micro-range from the break point. Once a box has taken more than about fifteen minutes to form, I usually drop the idea. By then it's turning into a normal range and the post-spike energy has gone.