Quiet Mondays with an empty calendar: what London tends to do
Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2026 6:35 pm
Quiet Mondays with an empty calendar: what London tends to do
Some Mondays there's nothing on the calendar. No big data, no central bank speakers, maybe a holiday somewhere. These days have a feel of their own, and they don't suit every strategy.
What I tend to see: Asia is slow, London opens without much conviction, and price often spends the morning inside the previous Friday's late range. Breakouts happen, but a lot of them fail because there's nobody pushing behind them. Ranges are narrower than average.
That's good news if you trade fades and mean reversion with small targets. It's bad news if you need movement. Breakout traders often have their worst days on quiet Mondays, because the setup looks fine and then nothing follows.
There's a catch, though. Weekend news can make Monday anything but quiet even with an empty calendar. Political news, a surprise statement, something in the press. So the first thing I do is check if there's been any weekend story affecting the pairs I trade. If not, I lean towards range behaviour. If so, I wait for London to show which way it wants to go.
I also keep size modest. Quiet days can turn noisy suddenly when a headline drops into a thin market.
Some Mondays there's nothing on the calendar. No big data, no central bank speakers, maybe a holiday somewhere. These days have a feel of their own, and they don't suit every strategy.
What I tend to see: Asia is slow, London opens without much conviction, and price often spends the morning inside the previous Friday's late range. Breakouts happen, but a lot of them fail because there's nobody pushing behind them. Ranges are narrower than average.
That's good news if you trade fades and mean reversion with small targets. It's bad news if you need movement. Breakout traders often have their worst days on quiet Mondays, because the setup looks fine and then nothing follows.
There's a catch, though. Weekend news can make Monday anything but quiet even with an empty calendar. Political news, a surprise statement, something in the press. So the first thing I do is check if there's been any weekend story affecting the pairs I trade. If not, I lean towards range behaviour. If so, I wait for London to show which way it wants to go.
I also keep size modest. Quiet days can turn noisy suddenly when a headline drops into a thin market.