diff --git a/common/src/main/java/bisq/common/persistence/PersistenceManager.java b/common/src/main/java/bisq/common/persistence/PersistenceManager.java
index 214b6b8768b..8300e9c336c 100644
--- a/common/src/main/java/bisq/common/persistence/PersistenceManager.java
+++ b/common/src/main/java/bisq/common/persistence/PersistenceManager.java
@@ -110,7 +110,11 @@ public static void flushAllDataToDisk(ResultHandler completeHandler) {
                 // For Priority.HIGH data we want to write to disk in any case to be on the safe side if we might have missed
                 // a requestPersistence call after an important state update. Those are usually rather small data stores.
                 // Otherwise we only persist if requestPersistence was called since the last persist call.
-                if (persistenceManager.source.flushAtShutDown || persistenceManager.persistenceRequested) {
+                // We also check if we have called read already to avoid a very early write attempt before we have ever
+                // read the data, which would lead to a write of empty data
+                // (fixes https://github.com/bisq-network/bisq/issues/4844).
+                if (persistenceManager.readCalled.get() &&
+                        (persistenceManager.source.flushAtShutDown || persistenceManager.persistenceRequested)) {
                     // We always get our completeHandler called even if exceptions happen. In case a file write fails
                     // we still call our shutdown and count down routine as the completeHandler is triggered in any case.
 
@@ -184,6 +188,7 @@ public enum Source {
     private Timer timer;
     private ExecutorService writeToDiskExecutor;
     public final AtomicBoolean initCalled = new AtomicBoolean(false);
+    public final AtomicBoolean readCalled = new AtomicBoolean(false);
 
 
     ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
@@ -303,6 +308,8 @@ public T getPersisted(String fileName) {
             return null;
         }
 
+        readCalled.set(true);
+
         File storageFile = new File(dir, fileName);
         if (!storageFile.exists()) {
             return null;