After New York shuts and before Tokyo wakes: the quiet gap

[Shadow Trader]

From about 5pm to 7pm New York time, the major pairs live in a gap. New York is finished, Tokyo hasn't properly started, and Sydney is the only market with any meaningful presence.

Spreads are wide. Quotes update less often. Price can sit flat for minutes, then jump a couple of pips on one order. The pattern looks like a range, but it's a lack of participation rather than genuine balance.

A scalper can mistake this for a trading opportunity: the chart looks calm, the range is tight, the entry points look clean. But a stop placed just outside the range is a magnet for the one stray order that sweeps through.

Sizable orders from sovereign or corporate players sometimes arrive in this window precisely because they know the market is quiet and they can work quietly.

Nothing wrong with trading it, but the cost has to be accepted for what it is.

Does the New York to Tokyo gap hold any consistent edge on AUD or NZD pairs?