The London open according to the World Market Hours site is 3 am EST. I noticed that during 1 am to 3 am EST that the currency market usually moves significantly even if no news announcements. The Toyko and Hong Kong markets are the only ones open just before London, which close at 1 am and 3 am EST respectively. However, many of the major currency pairs are consolidating after the Asian markets open until approx. 1 am EST. For example, prior to 1 am on 1/19, the EUR/USD fluctuated up and down only about 15 pips since the Toyko open at 7:30 pm EST and the Hong Kong open at 9 pm EST. However, at about 1:30 am on 1/19, the EUR/USD spiked down (at the time of this writing) about 40 pips before London even opened. There were no news announcements during that time to account for that movement. I have noticed this pattern many times. Is the reason for this is that the Asian market is closing positions just before the end of their trading day? If not, what is the reason? Also, another observation I have is that many times is that the currency markets will move significantly in the opposite direction of the movement after the Asian session closes and the London market opens - anyone have any ideas as to what causes that?