The half-hour after the Frankfurt open, before London fully wakes up

[FXS London Scalper]

Between 07:00 and 07:30 London time, German and other European traders are active while London is still preparing. I used to ignore that window. This year I started watching EURUSD then.

What I see most mornings:

• Small moves, usually 5 to 10 pips, often testing one side of the Asian range.
• Spreads already reasonable on my account, around 0.2 pips raw, so costs aren't the main problem.
• On days with German data at 07:00, the moves are bigger and less predictable.

I don't trade it much, but it helps me decide which side of the Asian range is more likely to be tested again at 08:00. If Frankfurt already tested the high and failed, I'm more cautious about a London breakout above it.

It's a soft read, not a rule. Do others use the Frankfurt period as part of their preparation, or do you start fresh at the London open?

[Shadow Trader]

Scene: it is 7:00 London time, which is 8:00 in Frankfurt, and EUR/GBP has been flat since Asia. Within a few minutes it jumps eight pips on no headline. An hour later, at the London open, the same pair barely reacts to the bell and just carries on.

The pattern has a mundane explanation. Continental European banks and corporates start their day an hour before London, so euro flows tend to show up first, and EUR/CHF, EUR/GBP and EUR/JPY can pick up pace at the Frankfurt open. London then brings the sterling side and the broader dollar flows, which matters more for GBP pairs and EUR/USD.

Whether the effect is visible depends partly on the broker feed, since some quote thinly before London and some do not.

Practically, that makes the 7:00 hour more interesting for euro crosses and the 8:00 hour more interesting for sterling. Using London open as the single reference for everything blurs the difference.

Do you see the Frankfurt hour show up on EUR/CHF or EUR/GBP, or does it just blend into London on your feed?