Have you noticed that when you wake up at 8:00 am, open the gold chart (XAU/USD), you see that there is a beautiful setup. You press Buy or Sell.
If you wait until noon, the gold price moves like a snail. The most annoying thing is, when you enter at 3:00 to 4:00 pm, the direction of the chart suddenly turns back in the opposite direction of the market this morning and you have to stop loss (SL).
Why is this happening? Because you don't understand the "Split Personality" of gold according to the world market session.
3 World Sessions, 3 Different Gold Temperaments
Gold is a global commodity, but the "Big Sharks" that move the volume of hundreds of billions are in London and New York, not in Tokyo or Malaysia.
Let's look at the different characteristics of gold according to our time (Malaysian time):
1. Asian / Tokyo Session (8:00 AM – 2:00 PM)
Character: Fakeout & Sideway
Reason: Big banks in the US and London are closed. Market volume is very small.
Trap: This session likes to make fake moves. For example, in the morning it will break out upwards, but in reality it is just a "liquidity hunt" before the real market starts in the afternoon.
2. European / London Session (3:00 PM – 8:00 PM)
Character: Real Trend Setter
Reason: London is the world's largest physical gold trading center. When London opens, big money starts coming in.
Temperament: The real direction of gold for the day usually starts to change around this session. If London says it wants to go down, it will go down with healthy volume.
3. US / New York Session (8:00 PM – 12:00 AM)
Character: Crazy & Aggressive (High Volatility)
Reason: This time the London and US sessions overlap. All the economic news (such as CPI, NFP, FOMC) comes out at this time.
Temperament: Gold can move hundreds of pips in a few minutes. The session that makes the most money, and the session that has the fastest margin call (MC) if there is no money management.
Easy Techniques for Retail Gold Traders
For those of you who trade daily (intraday), here are the golden rules that you should plant in your head:
“Just look in the morning, In the afternoon start looking for setups, At night just deal with volume.”
Morning Time (Asia) Afternoon Time (London) Night Time (US)
ACTION: Draw Support & Resistance (S&R) only. Don't itch your fingers to enter. ACTION: Wait for the price to break out or reject the S&R zone that was drawn this morning. Start entering. ACTION: Play layers (if you dare) or set Break Even (BE) and be ready because the market is aggressive.
Conclusion: Trade According to the Time “Sharks” Are Terrorizing
Don’t waste your energy, emotions, and capital staring at the chart from 8:00 am to night. Gold doesn’t move in the morning not because you’re not good at analysis, but because the “Sharks” (market makers) haven’t come into the office yet.
Understand the market session, you will know when to be aggressive, and when to close the chart and go hang out with mamak.
