London Session Reversal: Three Days When London Did the Hunt and the Turn

A London session reversal is a day when the run through the stops and the turn both come before New York opens, so New York only follows a move already made. It is the turn coming early. Here are three real days on EUR/USD and GBP/USD, and a count of how often London undoes its own break.

What is a London session reversal?

It is the same order of events as the New York Reversal, one session sooner. The Chaos Pattern ends with New York turning the day, and often enough it does not get the chance. By New York's open, London has run past the box, taken what it wanted and come back.

Most pages on this search sell a rule: a channel around the night's range, an entry against a break, or a fixed amount of risk. None we read shows a backtest or a dated day. We will show what happened, and the limits, and leave out where anyone should have got in. What sets this day apart from the London Breakout is only what closes afterwards: the crowd's break goes first, and then a candle closes back inside the box. That is the close back. The run past the level is the Stop Hunt, what most traders call a liquidity sweep.

A London session reversal off the low: EUR/USD, Tuesday 28 July 2026

EUR/USD spent the night in 18 pips, 1.13616 to 1.13801, and ended about where it began. Monday's low of 1.13668 was already inside the box, and Monday's high was 38 pips over it. On this page a candle is named by the New York time it opens.

For a long while London did nothing. Its first eleven candles stayed inside the box. Then the 05:45 candle closed under it at 1.13562, 5 pips out, and the crowd sold. The next candle reached 1.13531, 9 pips under the box and 14 under Monday's low, as Germany's central bank published its monthly report. Nobody could know that was the low of the day, and for the next hour candles kept closing under the box. The crowd's sell looked right.

The 07:15 candle closed back inside at 1.13652, with New York half an hour away. New York opened at 1.13653, 12 pips off the low. At 08:30 it dipped to 1.13605, a pip under the box and 7 short of London's low, and that was as low as it went. The 10:45 candle closed over the box at 1.13858, and by 12:15 price was at 1.14052, 52 pips off the low and 25 over the box.

New York did most of the distance. Of those 52 pips, 40 came after its open. London did the turn, and New York only arrived at a day that had already been decided.

A London session reversal off the high: GBP/USD, Thursday 24 September 2026

The same order, the other way up, and quicker. GBP/USD's box ran 28 pips, 1.32227 to 1.32505, with Wednesday's low on its bottom edge at 1.32234. London's fourth candle, at 03:45, ran to 1.32557, 5 pips over the box, and closed back inside at 1.32458 on that same candle. The next candle made no new high, and no high-impact release lined up with it.

Through London the pound worked down the box. The 06:15 candle closed under it and under Wednesday's low at 1.32167, with a low of 1.32142, 42 pips under the high. New York opened at 1.32224. Its best was 1.32399 at 12:15, inside the box and 16 pips short of London's high, which was never reached again. By 14:00 price was at 1.32041, 52 pips under the high and 10 past London's low.

This time London did most of the distance as well as the turn: 42 of the 52 pips. On both days the turn was London's, however the distance split.

Can a London session reversal come on the first hour?

Yes, and it can run a long way on the news that follows. EUR/USD on Thursday 30 July 2026 is a messier night, and our chart says so: a 32-pip box, 1.14430 to 1.14748, that drifted down and ended near its own bottom. London's first candle closed half a pip under it at 1.14425. By 03:30 price had reached 1.14342, 9 pips under the box and the low of the day.

The 04:00 candle closed back inside at 1.14456, on European growth figures. The 06:30 candle closed over the whole box at 1.14805, and New York opened over it at 1.14759. Its lowest was 1.14693 at 08:45, 35 pips above the low. European inflation at 08:00 and US growth and inflation figures at 08:30 came next, and price reached 1.15369 by 10:00, 103 pips off the low.

Most of that size belongs to the news, in our view, and not to the pattern. These releases move every dollar pair. What the morning shows is only the order: a run under the box, a close back, and no new low.

How often does London undo its own break?

On about two in five of its breaks. We counted seven majors and gold on 15-minute closes, 1,030 market-days from 6 April to 1 October 2026, with the rollover wick left out of the box. London closed outside the box on 745 days. On 287 of those 745, its last close was back inside the box or across it by New York's open.

Three limits go with that figure.

It is not always a clean reversal. Of those 287, 103 closed through the box the other way by 17:00. The other 184 did not.

It counts closes, so it misses some hunts. GBP/USD on 24 September closed back on the very candle that ran over the box, so by closes it never broke upward at all. It counts as a London break downward, still standing at New York's open by a third of a pip, which a New York candle closed back inside at 08:45. So it is one of the 264 days in our forex sessions count, and not one of these 287. A count of closes and a read of a hunt are two different questions.

It says nothing about money. Run as a mechanical rule, our own test of the setup did not make money, in London or in New York. Reversals seen afterwards always look like setups.

You will also read that London often sets the high or low of the day. The five hours from London's open to New York's open printed 274 of 2,060 highs and lows (13%), on 21% of the day's clock, in the same sample. A London session low or high is often just the extreme so far. Our forex market hours page has the split by session.

How can you tell London's turn from New York's?

Only afterwards, and two days of EUR/USD show why. On 31 July 2026, New York took London's low by 30 pips and then turned, so we call that turn New York's, and the NY session reversal covers days like it. On 28 July New York came within 7 pips of London's low and never passed it, so we call that one London's.

At London's own close back, nobody can yet say which of those days it is. Price can still go on to a new extreme afterwards. EUR/USD on 24 September turned in London too, then went on to 33 pips the other way after New York's low, as why the London breakout fails shows. For a fuller set of dated hunts, the EUR/USD markup from the week of 28 September 2026 and our stop hunt page go further.

What did each seat see?

The Three Seats read 28 July's morning differently.

• Retail saw a late breakdown and then a rally from nowhere. Selling 1.13562 looked right for an hour. Then, at 10:30, the averages crossed up 26 pips off the low, and that looked like the start of something.
• The market maker, as we read it, saw sellers to buy from. Stops under the box and breakdown sell orders were all selling in the same few pips. We cannot show who bought, and nobody outside a broker's book can.
• The observer watched what closed. That was 1.13652 at 07:15, and then a New York that stopped 7 pips short of 1.13531.

Common mistakes

All three come from expecting the day to follow its usual order.

1. Expecting the turn at New York's open. On 28 July the low was two hours old by then, and New York never went under it.
2. Picking the low as it prints. On 28 July candles closed under the box for more than an hour after 1.13531. It looks obvious only afterwards.
3. Looking to the averages. On 28 July the 20 crossed over the 50 at 10:30, 26 pips off the low and more than three hours after the 07:15 close.

Course 2 of ForexiaPRO, The Chaos Pattern, teaches this read step by step in lesson 2.2.4, When the Turn Comes in London.