Gold into US CPI is a casino if you treat the first print as a signal. My rule is a stand-aside timer, not a clever first-fade dressed as analysis. I want the explosion to finish being an explosion before I pretend I have structure.
Protocol I actually follow:
- Flat into the release. Working orders cancelled, not “tightened.”
- Timer starts at the print — a fixed number of minutes, not “until it looks calm.”
- Only after the timer and after spread returns inside my filter may I consider a planned scalp in the direction of clear post-release structure.
What stand-aside timer do you actually use on XAUUSD around CPI — and do you ever break it “just this once”?
I also refuse to widen stops mid-timer because “the spike needs room.” If the trade needs room through the explosion, it was not a scalp — it was a guess with a stop attached. Timer first, structure second, size always pre-committed.
