diff --git a/freqtrade/strategy/strategy_helper.py b/freqtrade/strategy/strategy_helper.py
index 71dcc3cbf..1292b65b5 100644
--- a/freqtrade/strategy/strategy_helper.py
+++ b/freqtrade/strategy/strategy_helper.py
@@ -92,6 +92,21 @@ def merge_informative_pair(
             right_on=date_merge,
             how="left",
         )
+
+        if len(dataframe) > 1 and len(informative) > 0 and pd.isnull(dataframe.at[0, date_merge]):
+            # If the start dates of the dataframes are not aligned, the first rows will be NaN
+            # We can fill these with the last available informative candle before the start date
+            # while still avoiding lookahead bias - as only past data is used.
+            first_valid_idx = dataframe[date_merge].first_valid_index()
+            if first_valid_idx:
+                first_valid_date_merge = dataframe.at[first_valid_idx, date_merge]
+                matching_informative_raws = informative[
+                    informative[date_merge] < first_valid_date_merge
+                ]
+                if not matching_informative_raws.empty:
+                    dataframe.loc[: first_valid_idx - 1] = dataframe.loc[
+                        : first_valid_idx - 1
+                    ].fillna(matching_informative_raws.iloc[-1])
     else:
         dataframe = pd.merge(
             dataframe, informative, left_on="date", right_on=date_merge, how="left"
diff --git a/tests/strategy/test_strategy_helpers.py b/tests/strategy/test_strategy_helpers.py
index 53e6501cf..92216db89 100644
--- a/tests/strategy/test_strategy_helpers.py
+++ b/tests/strategy/test_strategy_helpers.py
@@ -34,7 +34,8 @@ def test_merge_informative_pair():
     assert "volume_1h" in result.columns
     assert result["volume"].equals(data["volume"])
 
-    # First 3 rows are empty
+    # First 3 rows are empty.
+    # Pre-fillup doesn't happen as there is no prior candlw in the informative dataframe
     assert result.iloc[0]["date_1h"] is pd.NaT
     assert result.iloc[1]["date_1h"] is pd.NaT
     assert result.iloc[2]["date_1h"] is pd.NaT
@@ -109,13 +110,37 @@ def test_merge_informative_pair_monthly():
     # Candle is empty, as the start-date did fail.
     candle3 = result.loc[(result["date"] == "2022-11-30T22:00:00.000Z")]
     assert candle3.iloc[0]["date"] == pd.Timestamp("2022-11-30T22:00:00.000Z")
-    assert candle3.iloc[0]["date_1M"] is pd.NaT
+    # Merged on prior month
+    assert candle3.iloc[0]["date_1M"] == pd.Timestamp("2022-10-01T00:00:00.000Z")
 
     # First candle with 1M data merged.
     candle4 = result.loc[(result["date"] == "2022-11-30T23:00:00.000Z")]
     assert candle4.iloc[0]["date"] == pd.Timestamp("2022-11-30T23:00:00.000Z")
     assert candle4.iloc[0]["date_1M"] == pd.Timestamp("2022-11-01T00:00:00.000Z")
 
+    # Very first candle in the result dataframe
+    # Merged the latest informative candle before the start-date
+    candle5 = result.iloc[0]
+    assert candle5["date"] == pd.Timestamp("2022-11-28T00:00:00.000Z")
+    assert candle5["date_1M"] == pd.Timestamp("2022-10-01T00:00:00.000Z")
+
+
+def test_merge_informative_pair_no_overlap():
+    # Covers roughly a day
+    data = generate_test_data("1m", 1440, "2022-11-28")
+    # Data stops WAY before the main data starts
+    informative = generate_test_data("1h", 40, "2022-11-01")
+
+    result = merge_informative_pair(data, informative, "1m", "1h", ffill=True)
+
+    assert isinstance(result, pd.DataFrame)
+    assert len(result) == len(data)
+    assert "date" in result.columns
+    assert result["date"].equals(data["date"])
+    assert "date_1h" in result.columns
+    # If there's no overlap, forward filling should not fill anything
+    assert result["date_1h"].isnull().all()
+
 
 def test_merge_informative_pair_same():
     data = generate_test_data("15m", 40)