The London morning on US holidays

[FXS London Scalper]

On US holidays such as Thanksgiving or the Fourth of July, London is open but New York isn't. That changes the day.

What tends to happen:

• The London morning often looks normal.
• From midday London, activity drops, as US traders who normally join aren't there.
• Spreads can widen in the afternoon.
• Moves late in the day are less reliable, since liquidity is thin.

A simple plan for those days: trade the London morning normally, then stop at midday. If a strategy relies on the overlap, skip the day.

Note that the day before and after a US holiday can also be unusual: early closes, half-days on US markets, and traders taking long weekends.

How to check for your strategy: compare results on US holidays with normal days in the same week. There are only about ten such days a year, so collect several years of data before drawing strong conclusions.

What do you do on US holidays?