AUDUSD in the London morning when China data came out overnight

[FXS London Scalper]

On days when China releases trade data, CPI or activity numbers during the Asian session, AUDUSD sometimes moves sharply before London opens. How the London morning behaves afterwards is worth tracking.

Questions to log on each China data day:

• Size of the AUDUSD move on the release, in pips.
• Whether London continued in the same direction in the first hour, and by how much.
• On small Asian reactions, whether AUDUSD simply followed the dollar, making EURUSD and GBPUSD the better guide.
• Metal prices in Asia, which can sometimes explain why an Asian move faded.

A reasonable working rule while the sample builds: on China data days, mark the Asian high and low, and only consider AUDUSD scalps in the direction of the overnight move if London breaks that range with follow-through.

Keep expectations modest. There are only a few such releases a month, the moves are noisy, and a year of observations is still a small sample, so it's better used as context than as an edge.

Does anyone trade AUD in London on these days, and do you watch commodities alongside it?

[Shadow Trader]

When Tokyo winds down and London hasn't started, Hong Kong and Singapore carry the Asian market. It's a different mix of participants than the Tokyo morning. More Asian corporates, more regional funds, and fewer of the big Japanese names.

Pairs react differently. USDJPY quiets down, while USDSGD, USDCNH, and AUDUSD pick up some life. EURUSD barely notices.

The interesting part is the timing of regional data. Chinese releases, usually at 9:30 Beijing time or around mid-morning, produce moves in AUD and NZD that can be sharp and short. Because there's little liquidity, a 15 pip spike may be gone within a minute.

For a scalper, this window is easy to overlook, since most education focuses on London and New York. But a handful of traders live there, because the moves are tied to a different set of triggers and fewer people are competing.

The trade-off is cost. Spreads on AUD pairs are acceptable, while exotics are painful.

What actually worked when trading the Hong Kong and Singapore hours on purpose?