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Marking the overnight high and low before Frankfurt opens

Short one. Before Frankfurt opens at 07:00 London time, mark the high and low from roughly midnight up to that point. Not the full Asian session, just the overnight block that European traders will see when they sit down.

These two levels are often the first thing that gets tested once European volume arrives. Frankfurt traders don't care much about what happened at 01:00 Tokyo time in detail, but they do see where price went overnight, and the extremes of that block are natural places for early orders.

The behaviour I'd look for is a quick test of one side in the first thirty to sixty minutes of Frankfurt, often before London is fully active. Sometimes that test breaks the level and runs. Often it pokes through, fails, and turns back toward the other side, which then becomes the target for London.

The overnight block from midnight is cleaner than the full Asian range on many days because it leaves out the late New York and early Sydney noise.

Pair the overnight extremes with the European open itself. Note where price is at 07:00 relative to the overnight high and low. If it's sitting near one extreme, the first test is likely to happen quickly. If it's in the middle, the first half hour can be quiet and choppy while the market decides. Writing that one observation into the desk note before 07:00 gives you a simple expectation for the first hour, and it's easy to check afterwards whether the market did what the position suggested it might. Some sessions the overnight block is so narrow that both sides get tested in the first fifteen minutes, which tells you the day hasn't picked a direction yet and that early trades should be smaller.

Not every pair cares about Frankfurt. EURUSD, EURGBP and EURJPY tend to respond to it because euro flows pick up at that time. GBP pairs often don't move much until London itself opens an hour later. USDJPY may be quiet after the Tokyo session ends. If you trade several pairs, it makes sense to use this approach mainly on the euro crosses and treat other pairs with a later reference, such as the overnight range up to the London open instead. For GBP pairs, the box from midnight to 08:00 London often gives cleaner levels than the Frankfurt version, since that's when cable volume actually arrives. Treat the two blocks as separate references and only use the one that fits the pair you're trading, rather than marking both on every chart and ending up with too many lines.

Daylight saving shifts can catch people out with this. When Europe and the US change their clocks on different weekends, the gap between Frankfurt and New York changes, and the overnight block you're marking might include or exclude an hour of late US trading that it normally wouldn't. Using a fixed rule like midnight to 07:00 London time keeps the block consistent from a European point of view, but it's still a good idea to glance at those transition weeks to make sure the levels look sensible on the chart. Writing the transition dates at the top of the desk note each spring and autumn is one easy way to remember.

A practical way to make this repeatable is to draw a box rather than two separate lines. Most charting platforms let you draw a time based rectangle, and some indicators do it automatically for a chosen time window. Seeing the box makes the overnight structure easier to read at a glance, and it's quicker to spot when price is testing an edge versus wandering inside the middle. It also makes screenshots for your journal more readable later on. A box also reminds you not to trade in the middle of it. The edges are where the decisions happen, and the middle of an overnight range is often just noise. Seeing the shaded area makes that obvious. For screenshots, a consistent colour for the overnight box across all your charts makes it quicker to compare one session with another during a weekly review.

The overnight block before Frankfurt is a good refinement. A small addition: also note where price is at 07:00 relative to that block. If it is at an edge, Frankfurt often tests that edge straight away. If it is in the middle, the first test can wait until London arrives at 08:00. These levels also tend to get respected more on days with no important European data early in the morning, since there is nothing else to drive the first moves.