that dead stretch around lunchtime in London

[Shadow Trader]

Around 11:30 GMT the chart goes to sleep. A trader who made 20 pips between 08:00 and 10:00 sits watching candles that barely clear the spread. Five-minute ranges shrink to 3 or 4 pips on a pair that was printing 8 a few hours earlier.

So the trader takes a breakout anyway. Price pokes above a little shelf, hesitates, then slides straight back into the box. Stopped out for a loss that felt unfair, because the setup looked identical to the one that worked at 08:30.

Same pattern, different clock. Volume thins as Frankfurt and London desks step away for lunch, New York hasn't woken up yet, and every move has less behind it. Drifting in a range is normal here, though not guaranteed on every day. A data release can wreck the quiet in seconds.

In WAT that's roughly 12:30 to 14:00 in winter, one hour earlier in GMT terms once Britain is on summer time.

Do you trade straight through it, sit out, or switch to a different kind of setup until New York shows up?