Forex guide · 8 min read · Updated 8 October 2026

The Asia session range strategy

A complete rules based GBPUSD strategy: mark the Asia range, wait for London to sweep one side, confirm the reversal, then trade back to the other side.

This is the strategy The Order Block is built around. It is simple to describe and hard to do well, because the skill is in telling a trap from a breakout. Here are the rules.

1. Mark the Asia box (00:00 to 06:00 UK)

Draw the highest high and lowest low between midnight and 06:00 UK on a 5 minute chart. Just above the high and below the low sit stop orders from overnight traders. That is liquidity.

2. Wait for a sweep (from 07:00, trade from 08:00)

From Frankfurt (07:00) and through the London window (08:00 to 10:30), wait for price to push at least a pip beyond one side of the box. We never trade the push itself.

3. Decide: trap or breakout?

This is where most of the edge is. A liquidity sweep fails quickly. A breakout gets accepted. Stand aside if two candles close beyond the level after the open, or if price runs more than about 12 pips past it.

4. Wait for proof

Enter only when a candle closes back inside the box and through the last swing before the sweep (a market structure shift), in the direction of the trade. A big bodied candle makes it stronger.

5. Entry, stop and target

• Stop: 1 pip beyond the sweep’s extreme, never more than 10 pips. If it would be wider, use a limit order where the stop is exactly 10 pips, and skip the trade if it doesn’t fill.
• Target: the other side of the Asia box, the opposite pool of liquidity. Minimum 2R after costs.
• Risk: a fixed 0.25% to 1% of the account. Use a position size calculator.

6. New York (13:00 to 15:30 UK)

The same idea can work at the New York open, but often the Asia levels are already far behind price by then. If price is well outside the box at 13:00, the levels are spent.

A real example

On 6 October 2026 the Asia box on GBPUSD ran from 1.32134 to 1.32319. Frankfurt flushed 11 pips through the low, price was back inside by 07:45, London’s first dip made a higher low and a strong candle at 08:10 gave the buy. It reached the Asia high by 08:40: a +2R day. The next day looked similar at first, but it was a breakout. The difference is explained in liquidity sweeps explained, and you can see every day’s read in our daily GBPUSD analysis.

What results to expect

A strategy targeting 2R can be profitable with a win rate under 50%, but expect long losing runs and many no trade days. Test it before you trust it: the app can backtest it on real GBPUSD, and the free course teaches it step by step.