This lesson takes everything in the curriculum and states it as a single, testable strategy for gold. It is not the only way to trade XAUUSD, and it is not presented as a guaranteed method. It is written to the standard the planning lesson demanded: precise enough that someone else could execute it identically, and therefore precise enough to test.
Test it before you trade it. That instruction is part of the method.
The thesis
Gold's Asian session forms a range. Its high and low are visible to everyone, so stop clusters sit just beyond them. The London open frequently drives price through one of those extremes, fills those orders, and reverses.
When that sweep happens in the direction of the higher-timeframe trend, the reclaim is a high-quality entry. The risk is defined by the sweep extreme, and the target is defined by structure rather than by hope.
The rules
Market and timeframes. XAUUSD only. Daily for direction, 15-minute for entry.
Pre-session, before 08:00 UTC:
Read the daily structure. Write one sentence: *"Daily is up; last swing low 3,381."*
Mark the Asian high and low (00:00–07:00 UTC).
Check the calendar. If a tier-1 US release falls before 17:00, do not trade this setup today.
Note ATR(14) on the 15-minute.
Setup — all four required:
Daily structure is a clear uptrend or downtrend (the defining swing is unbroken on a closing basis)
During 08:00–13:00 UTC, price trades beyond the Asian extreme that lies *against* the daily trend — below the Asian low in an uptrend, above the Asian high in a downtrend
A 15-minute candle closes back inside the Asian range
That closing candle's body is at least 0.7× ATR(14)
Entry. Market order on the close of the reclaim candle.
Stop. Beyond the sweep extreme, plus a buffer of 0.3× ATR(14).
Target. The opposite Asian extreme first (partial), then the prior daily swing extreme.
Skip the trade if: reward to the first target is under 1× risk; ATR is more than 1.5× its 20-day average (abnormal volatility); or the daily structure broke within the last two sessions.
Risk. 0.5% per trade on gold, not 1% — the wider stops mean a single trade already carries more uncertainty than an FX position.
Exit. Flat before any tier-1 US release. Close at the London close (17:00) if unresolved.
Worked example
07:55 UTC. Daily: 3,340 → 3,428 → 3,381 → 3,455. Uptrend, defining low 3,381. Asian range: high 3,418, low 3,396. Calendar: nothing until tomorrow. ATR(14) on the 15-minute: 4.2 points.
Direction: long only. The relevant sweep is *below* 3,396.
08:20. Price drops to 3,388 — below the Asian low, and below it by enough to have cleared the obvious cluster.
08:45. A 15-minute candle closes at 3,401 — back inside the range. Body: 3,401 − 3,392 = 9 points. Required: 0.7 × 4.2 = 2.9. ✓
First target: Asian high 3,418. Reward 17. Ratio 1:1.13 ✓ (above the 1× minimum)
Second target: prior daily high 3,455. Reward 54 on the remainder
Size: on a $10,000 account at 0.5% = $50 risk, 15 points of stop → roughly 0.03 lots.
Outcome: price reaches 3,418 at 10:30 — half closed, stop to breakeven. The remainder runs to 3,447 by 15:00 and is closed at the London close, short of the second target.
Result: roughly +1.9R.
The failure case, which matters more
Same setup, three days later. Daily uptrend intact, Asian low 3,402, price sweeps to 3,394, and a 15-minute candle closes at 3,406.
All four conditions met. Entry 3,406, stop 3,392, risk 14.
Price does not reverse. It grinds back down through 3,394 and closes the hour at 3,381. Stop hit. −1R.
Nothing was done wrong. The sweep was real, the reclaim was real, and the trade lost. This setup is not a certainty and does not become one by being written precisely. Anyone presenting a gold sweep strategy with no losing examples is showing you a selected sample.
Before you trade it
Bar-replay 100 instances across at least a year, including a ranging period.
Record expectancy, win rate, average win, average loss, worst streak.
Include the spread — gold's overlap spread is 0.15–0.25; at 15-point stops that is 1–2% of risk per trade.
Forward-test 30 on demo.
Go live at half size for 50 trades.
If step 2 produces a negative expectancy, the method does not work for you on your broker's data. That is a legitimate and valuable finding, and it cost you nothing.
What to take away
The method: daily trend, Asian range, London sweep, 15-minute reclaim, structural stop.
Every condition is objectively checkable, which is what makes it testable.
ATR sets both the confirmation threshold and the stop buffer.
0.5% risk on gold, and flat before tier-1 US releases.
Test it before trading it. A precisely written method is not a proven one.
