Liquidity is not constant: which pairs to scalp in which session
Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2026 8:00 am
A pair is only as liquid as the session it is trading in, and that changes the cost of a scalp more than most indicators do. EURUSD is deep in London and New York, but in the Asian session the same pair can have a spread nearly double its London value and ranges that barely cover it.
Rough patterns worth checking on your own feed: USDJPY, AUDJPY and AUDUSD tend to be busiest in Tokyo and Sydney hours, EURGBP and EURCHF in the London morning, and USDCAD around the New York open and the oil-related news. GBPUSD often has its fastest minutes in the first half hour after London opens.
Moving a method between sessions without adjusting it is a common source of unexplained drawdown. A breakout system built on London volatility may meet a 1.2 pip spread and a 4 pip hourly range at 2:00 GMT, and the maths stops working.
A tidy way to find out is a table. For each pair and hour, record the median spread and the median range of the hour. The ratio of range to spread is a crude measure of tradability. Rank the hours and ignore the bottom half.
What does that range-to-spread ratio look like on your main pair at the weakest hour of the day?
Rough patterns worth checking on your own feed: USDJPY, AUDJPY and AUDUSD tend to be busiest in Tokyo and Sydney hours, EURGBP and EURCHF in the London morning, and USDCAD around the New York open and the oil-related news. GBPUSD often has its fastest minutes in the first half hour after London opens.
Moving a method between sessions without adjusting it is a common source of unexplained drawdown. A breakout system built on London volatility may meet a 1.2 pip spread and a 4 pip hourly range at 2:00 GMT, and the maths stops working.
A tidy way to find out is a table. For each pair and hour, record the median spread and the median range of the hour. The ratio of range to spread is a crude measure of tradability. Rank the hours and ignore the bottom half.
What does that range-to-spread ratio look like on your main pair at the weakest hour of the day?