My blackout window for ECB rate decision when trading EURUSD
Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2026 11:27 am
My ECB blackout on EURUSD is written in local London time, not in platform timezone folklore.
I mark the decision and the presser separately when both matter. Pre-window: flatten discretionary risk, cancel working orders, screenshot the flat account if I am tired enough to doubt myself. The blackout is not a suggestion; it is the trade.
What sits inside the window
1. No scaling in "just to see."
2. No moving stops closer because the first spike "looks done."
3. Spread filter does not reopen the book early — time does.
After the window I still need the stand-aside habit. Blackout gets me flat; it does not automatically make the next fifteen minutes a gift.
How do you define the ECB blackout edges — decision only, or decision plus press conference — and do you keep the same minutes every meeting?
If I am mentoring or sharing a screen that day, the blackout is spoken out loud once before the window. Saying it reduces the chance of a quick-look order while someone is talking. Process that only exists in my head fails under distraction.
I mark the decision and the presser separately when both matter. Pre-window: flatten discretionary risk, cancel working orders, screenshot the flat account if I am tired enough to doubt myself. The blackout is not a suggestion; it is the trade.
What sits inside the window
1. No scaling in "just to see."
2. No moving stops closer because the first spike "looks done."
3. Spread filter does not reopen the book early — time does.
After the window I still need the stand-aside habit. Blackout gets me flat; it does not automatically make the next fifteen minutes a gift.
How do you define the ECB blackout edges — decision only, or decision plus press conference — and do you keep the same minutes every meeting?
If I am mentoring or sharing a screen that day, the blackout is spoken out loud once before the window. Saying it reduces the chance of a quick-look order while someone is talking. Process that only exists in my head fails under distraction.