How to Trade Asia & London Session Levels

By the time the New York session opens, the futures market has already been trading for hours. Overnight, the Asian and London sessions build a range — a high, a low, and a mid-point — and those levels quietly shape where price reacts once the US day begins. Learn to read Asia and London session levels and you walk into the open with a map instead of a guess. This guide is written for futures traders on NinjaTrader 8, but the same idea applies to any market that trades around the clock.

What are Asia and London session levels?

A "session level" is just a reference price left behind by a trading session. For the two big overnight sessions, the ones that matter most are:

• Asia high & low — the extremes printed during the Asian (Tokyo) session.
• London high & low — the extremes printed during the London session.
• Session mids — the midpoint between a session's high and low, a natural magnet and fair-value reference.

Together these lines box in the overnight range. Because real volume traded at each of them, they tend to act as support and resistance long after the session that created them has closed — which is exactly why day-session traders keep them on the chart.

Why the overnight range matters

The US index futures — the ES (E-mini S&P 500) and NQ (E-mini Nasdaq) — trade nearly around the clock, but liquidity and character shift by session. Asia is often quieter and range-bound; London brings a surge of European volume and frequently sets the overnight extreme; then New York opens into whatever structure those two sessions built.

That hand-off is the opportunity. When the NY open arrives, price is rarely starting from a blank slate — it's opening near, inside, or just beyond a range that's already defined. Knowing where the Asia and London highs, lows and mids sit tells you which levels the first move is likely to test.

What time are the sessions?

Exact clock times depend on your broker, your chart's timezone, and daylight saving, so treat these as a rough guide rather than gospel:

• Asian session — roughly the evening through early morning US Eastern time, centered on Tokyo's hours.
• London session — roughly the pre-dawn hours ET into the US morning, overlapping the NY open.

The important thing isn't the perfect minute — it's picking a consistent window for each session and marking its high, low and mid the same way every day. On NinjaTrader 8 you can define each session once and let the platform draw the levels automatically, which keeps them consistent. Consistency is what turns a level into a reliable reference.

Two ways to trade the levels

Most session-level plays come down to a break or a fade:

• Break / continuation — a clean, decisive move through the overnight high or low suggests one side has taken control; you trade in the direction of the break, with a stop back inside the range.
• Fade / reversion — a sharp rejection at a session level (a quick poke and snap back) suggests the level is holding; you trade back toward the mid or the opposite side of the range.

The session mid deserves special attention. Price often gravitates to it, so it works as both a target for fades and a decision point: holding above the mid keeps a bullish lean, losing it flips the bias.

A worked example on the NQ

Suppose overnight the NQ prints an Asia high of 20,180, an Asia low of 20,090, and a London high of 20,210 that becomes the overnight high. The overnight mid sits near 20,150.

• Break setup: after the NY open, price pushes through 20,210 and holds → potential long in the direction of the break, stop back below the London high.
• Fade setup: instead, price spikes to 20,210, is rejected hard, and falls back inside → potential short toward the 20,150 mid, stop just above the London high.

Either way, the overnight levels handed you a defined entry, a defined stop, and a logical target before the open. The exact numbers don't matter — the structure does. (Illustration only — not a recommendation or a past result.)

Filters that improve session-level trades

• Confluence — a session level that lines up with a prior day's high/low, a round number, or a VWAP is stronger than one on its own.
• The economic calendar — a big pre-market release can blow straight through overnight levels; know what's scheduled before the open.
• Time of day — the first hour after the NY open tends to be the most active window for these plays.
• Higher-timeframe trend — favoring breaks in the direction of the daily trend, and fades against overextended moves.

Common mistakes

• Re-drawing the levels by hand every day — it's slow, error-prone, and easy to skip on a busy morning.
• Treating every touch as a trade — many touches are noise; wait for a decisive break or a clear rejection.
• Ignoring the mid — the midpoint is often the most-respected level of the three.
• Fighting the news — trading a session level straight into a major release.

Plotting the levels automatically

Marking each session's high, low and mid by hand — every day, across Asia and London — is exactly the kind of repetitive task worth automating. Our Overnight Levels indicator for NinjaTrader 8 tracks both sessions and plots each one's high, low and mid for you, so the overnight range is already on your chart when the New York open arrives — no manual measuring. To automate the New York open itself, many traders pair it with our Opening Range Breakout strategy.

Frequently asked questions

What are Asia and London session levels?

They are the high, low and mid-point that price makes during the Asian (Tokyo) and London trading sessions, before the New York session opens. Because so much volume trades against these overnight levels, they often act as support and resistance during the US day session.

What time are the Asia and London sessions?

Times vary by broker and by daylight saving, but as a rough guide the Asian session runs through the evening and early morning US Eastern time, and the London session runs through the early morning ET into the US open. Many traders simply define each session as a fixed clock window and keep it consistent.

How do you trade the overnight range?

Two common plays: a clean break of the overnight high or low can signal continuation, while a sharp rejection at a session level can signal a fade back into the range. Either way you're trading objective levels set overnight, with a stop on the other side of the level.

Can session levels be plotted automatically on NinjaTrader 8?

Yes — the Trading123 Overnight Levels indicator tracks the Asia and London sessions and automatically plots each session's high, low and mid on your NinjaTrader 8 chart, so the levels are ready before the New York open.