A Complete Gold (XAUUSD) Price Action Routine: Pre-Market Prep, Scenarios and Journal
Lesson 10 of 10 · Advanced
Why build a routine?
All the earlier lessons, from reading a candle to Al Brooks concepts, turn into measurable results only when they become a repeatable process. A routine helps you do the same things in the same order every day, so your decisions depend less on mood and momentary emotion, and your journal produces comparable data. The routine below is a teaching template; adapt it to your schedule, your timeframes and the results of your own tests.
Step 1: Pre-market preparation
- Economic calendar: note the release times of major US data (CPI, NFP, PCE, Federal Reserve decisions and speeches). Decide in advance whether you will stand aside for the minutes before and after them, or how you will manage an open position.
- The big picture (daily and 4-hour): label the structure as uptrend, downtrend or range. Mark the latest major swings and write down the higher-timeframe Always In direction.
- Key levels: the previous day's high and low, the previous week's high and low, the Asian session range, recent flip zones and nearby round numbers (multiples of 50 and 100). Keep no more than four to six zones near price.
- Intermarket context: many gold traders glance at the US dollar index (DXY) and US Treasury yields. They have no fixed relationship with gold, but they sometimes explain why gold behaves unusually on a given day.
- Volatility range: know the recent daily ATR so your expectations for targets and stop distances are realistic.
Step 2: Writing scenarios
Instead of predicting, write two or three scenarios, each with an activation condition, a setup and an invalidation point. Keep them short and checkable, so you can later say which one played out.
| Scenario | Condition | Expected setup | Invalidation |
| Trend continuation | Pullback to a flip zone in the direction of the higher-timeframe structure | H2 or pin bar in the zone with lower-timeframe confirmation | Close beyond the latest major swing |
| Failed breakout | Move through the previous day's high or low and a quick return | Full-bodied candle back inside the range | Price accepted beyond the level |
| Neutral | Price mid-range with no clear setup | None; wait | - |
Take the "do nothing" scenario seriously. On days when price spends most of its time in the middle of the range and away from levels, the best price action decision is often to stand aside.
Step 3: Execution through the sessions
Gold has several different faces over a 24-hour day. The Asian session is usually quieter and builds a range that later becomes a reference. The London open often tests one edge of the Asian range, and the London and New York overlap is usually the busiest and most volatile part of the day. These are tendencies, not rules.
A short checklist during the session helps:
- Is price at one of my planned zones? If not, wait.
- Which scenario is playing out, and does the setup match my written definition?
- Where is the logical stop, and is the room to the next opposing zone several times the risk?
- Is a major news release due in the next few minutes?
- Has the position size been calculated from the stop distance and the risk percentage?
A sample teaching day
All numbers are hypothetical and are only meant to teach the method; this is not a signal or advice.
Preparation: the 4-hour structure is bullish; the latest HL is at 4150 and the latest HH at 4240. The previous day's high and low are 4225 and 4185, and the Asian range is 4195 to 4212. The 4180 to 4190 zone is an old flip and overlaps with the previous day's low. A CPI release is due during the New York session.
Scenarios: (A) a pullback to 4180 to 4190 and a long setup in the trend direction, invalidated by a one-hour close below 4175. (B) A push through 4225 and a quick return below it, which could be a failed breakout. (C) Otherwise, wait.
Execution: at the London open, price breaks the Asian low and falls in two legs to 4186. On the 5-minute chart, the first attempt to recover (H1) fails, price makes a slightly higher low at 4187, and then a full-bodied bull bar closing near its high completes the H2. Entry is with a stop order above that bar at 4193, with the stop below 4180 allowing for a buffer and spread, so risk is about 13 dollars. The first target is the Asian high near 4210 and the second is the previous day's high at 4225.
Management: price reaches 4210 and part of the position is closed. Thirty minutes before CPI, as planned, the rest is closed too, because the decision was not to hold a position through the release. Whether price went higher or lower after the news does not change the evaluation of the decision; it followed the plan.
Had price closed below 4175 on the one-hour chart that day, scenario (A) would have been invalidated, the stop would have been hit, and the routine would have said to avoid buying until new structure formed.
Step 4: After the market
- Journal: for every trade, record the chart screenshot, the related scenario, entry, stop, exit, result in R and one sentence on execution quality. Also note the trades you did not take according to plan.
- Weekly review: which scenarios played out most? Which setups worked better in which session? Where did you deviate from the plan?
- Updating rules: only on the basis of a sufficient sample of trades, not one or two recent results.
A price action routine is not meant to make you immune to losses; it is meant to make every win and loss the result of a defined process that you can measure and improve. This is the last lesson of the course, but in practice it is the beginning: write your rules down, test them, and proceed with small size and patience.
Common mistakes
- Starting to trade without checking the economic calendar
- Drawing too many levels and getting lost in the chart
- Predicting direction instead of writing scenarios with an invalidation point
- Trading mid-range, far from any planned zone
- Judging a decision by the result of one trade instead of adherence to the plan
- Not journaling trades or reviewing them weekly
What does volume say here?
You can enrich this routine with several volume layers without changing its price action logic. In preparation, place the previous day's volume profile (POC, VAH and VAL) and a composite profile of recent days next to your price action levels; when a flip zone coincides with the edge of the value area or an HVN, you have an additional reason to watch it. Daily VWAP is also a useful reference for whether today's price is considered "expensive" or "cheap".
During execution, the footprint and delta at the moment price reaches a zone help you see whether absorption is happening or orders are being pulled. In the example above, if heavy aggressive selling had been seen at 4186 without price continuing lower, the H2 would have had more evidence behind it. An honest reminder: spot gold CFD prices and COMEX GC futures differ by a basis, and real volume comes from the futures market, so translate futures volume levels onto the CFD chart using the live basis. Volume sharpens probabilities, but it does not replace a plan and risk management.
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Frequently asked questions
When is the best time to trade gold with price action?
Many traders prefer the London open and the London and New York overlap because of greater liquidity and movement, but those windows also bring more volatility and false-breakout risk. Your own journal and testing will show which time is best for you.
Which levels should I mark on the gold chart before trading?
The previous day's and week's highs and lows, the Asian session range, recent flip zones and nearby round numbers. Keep no more than four to six zones near price so decisions stay simple.
What should I do around major news such as CPI and NFP?
Decide in advance. Many price action traders do not trade for a few minutes before and after the release and either close open positions or hold them knowingly accepting slippage risk. After the market calms, read the new structure afresh.
Education only, not a recommendation to buy or sell; we never give signals. Price examples are illustrative. Test any method on a demo account first, with strict risk management.