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Strategy Playbooks
Smart Money · Advanced

London Judas Swing

London raids one side of the Asian range, then reverses.

Backtest this playbook
Origin: ICT London session model — the “Judas swing” false move
Session
Asian range 20:00–00:00 ET · entries 02:00–05:00 ET
Timeframes
5m–15m
Markets
EUR/USD, GBP/USD, Gold
Reward
Opposite side of the range (about 1.5–2.5R)
Illustration
1.08201.08401.08601.088020:0000:0002:0005:00Asian rangeLondon killzoneAsia high 1.0870Asia low 1.0830Stop 1.0882RaidShort 1.0864Target
EUR/USD sketch with 30-minute candles for clarity. The 20:00–00:00 range spans 1.0830–1.0870. At 02:30 London pushes to 1.0880 and closes back at 1.0864. The short from 1.0864 with a 1.0882 stop targets the range low at 1.0830 — about 1.9R.

Why it works

The Asian session often builds a tight range. London’s open frequently runs the stops on one side of it — the Judas swing — before the real move of the day goes the other way. The playbook waits for the raid to fail and trades back through the range.

The rules

01Setup

  • Mark the Asian range: the high and low from 20:00 to 00:00 ET.
  • Wait for the London killzone, 02:00–05:00 ET.
  • A candle trades beyond one side of the range and closes back inside it — the raid has failed.

02Entry

  • Enter at the next candle’s open, against the raid.
  • One trade per day.

03Stop

  • A few pips beyond the extreme of the raid.

04Target

  • The opposite side of the Asian range.
  • Alternative: a fixed 2R when the range is unusually wide.

05Management

  • Flat by 11:00 ET, whatever happens — the London and New York overlap changes the game.

06Invalidation

  • Price closes beyond the raid extreme.
  • No raid by 05:00 ET means no trade.
  • An Asian range already wider than the day’s average range: no compression, no trap.

Common mistakes

  • Fading the first push without waiting for the close back inside
  • Holding into New York hoping for more
  • Trading Mondays, when a weekend gap distorts the range

Educational material, not financial advice. The illustration is a sketch of the rules, not a historical trade. Results in the backtester are hypothetical and do not guarantee future performance.