diff --git a/freqtrade/persistence/models.py b/freqtrade/persistence/models.py
index a82c047c3..a22e75e1e 100644
--- a/freqtrade/persistence/models.py
+++ b/freqtrade/persistence/models.py
@@ -59,10 +59,10 @@ def init_db(db_url: str, clean_open_orders: bool = False) -> None:
     # https://docs.sqlalchemy.org/en/13/orm/contextual.html#thread-local-scope
     # Scoped sessions proxy requests to the appropriate thread-local session.
     # We should use the scoped_session object - not a seperately initialized version
-    Trade.session = scoped_session(sessionmaker(bind=engine, autoflush=True, autocommit=True))
-    Trade.query = Trade.session.query_property()
-    Order.query = Trade.session.query_property()
-    PairLock.query = Trade.session.query_property()
+    Trade._session = scoped_session(sessionmaker(bind=engine, autoflush=True, autocommit=True))
+    Trade.query = Trade._session.query_property()
+    Order.query = Trade._session.query_property()
+    PairLock.query = Trade._session.query_property()
 
     previous_tables = inspect(engine).get_table_names()
     _DECL_BASE.metadata.create_all(engine)
diff --git a/tests/test_persistence.py b/tests/test_persistence.py
index d53386287..3336e4e66 100644
--- a/tests/test_persistence.py
+++ b/tests/test_persistence.py
@@ -18,8 +18,8 @@ from tests.conftest import create_mock_trades, log_has, log_has_re
 def test_init_create_session(default_conf):
     # Check if init create a session
     init_db(default_conf['db_url'], default_conf['dry_run'])
-    assert hasattr(Trade, 'session')
-    assert 'scoped_session' in type(Trade.session).__name__
+    assert hasattr(Trade, '_session')
+    assert 'scoped_session' in type(Trade._session).__name__
 
 
 def test_init_custom_db_url(default_conf, tmpdir):