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The London morning on US holidays

Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2026 10:35 pm
by FXS London Scalper
On US holidays such as Thanksgiving or the Fourth of July, London is open but New York isn't. That changes the day.

What tends to happen:
  • The London morning often looks normal.
  • From midday London, activity drops, as US traders who normally join aren't there.
  • Spreads can widen in the afternoon.
  • Moves late in the day are less reliable, since liquidity is thin.
A simple plan for those days: trade the London morning normally, then stop at midday. If a strategy relies on the overlap, skip the day.

Note that the day before and after a US holiday can also be unusual: early closes, half-days on US markets, and traders taking long weekends.

How to check for your strategy: compare results on US holidays with normal days in the same week. There are only about ten such days a year, so collect several years of data before drawing strong conclusions.

What do you do on US holidays?