Given the unhurried pace of the price movements, traders act similar to hunters. They have to wait long and patiently for their prey, but a fine shot can bring decent profits. The European trading session is the most lively and eventful one.

The trade volumes here are large, so the trading activity is heightened. Mostly, sustainable trends on the market are formed during the European session. Traders need to bear in mind this fact. Besides, false signals are frequent in this period, as the European dealers test the market, try to find the congestion of stop orders, and spot support and resistance levels.

The beginning of the session is usually calm, and the price movements speed up at the opening of the London Stock Exchange. The peak of activity is usually seen in early and late hours, while in the afternoon, traders take a short break. The price trends usually change at the end of the session. Experienced traders like the European session as it can provide ample opportunities for reaping hefty profits. An ability to analyze a large amount of information and define the market tendencies promptly can yield generous gains.

An outburst of trading activity is usually witnessed during the American trading session, involving huge sums and captivating the attention of millions of traders around the world. It is the most aggressive, unpredictable, and potentially profitable trading session.

Market participants largely focus on the release of the news that often causes mixed and chaotic currency movements. The price trends that are formed in the European session can either continue or reverse during the American session. Geographically, the American session covers not only the United States but also in Canada and Brazil.

Traders pay special attention to USD and CAD currency pairs. Besides, JPY pairs also become highly volatile in this period. There is one more essential aspect. It is no secret that the European banks are as influential as the American banks, so the first ones partially offset the importance of the latter. Therefore, the highest volatility is observed when the European session closes, and the US banks get the ultimate power. The activity in the US market decreases by Friday evening.

Traders usually fix their profits before the weekends that is followed by a pullback of the major trends. Even if you could, why would you? Besides, sleep is an integral part of a healthy lifestyle! You need sleep to recharge and have energy so that you can do even the most mundane tasks like mowing the lawn, talking to your spouse, taking the dog for a walk, or organizing your stamp collection.

Every trader should learn when to trade. Scratch that. Every trader should know when to trade and when not to trade. Knowing the optimal times, you should trade and the times when you should sit out and just play some Fortnite instead.

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This time is the trading server time and is the standard time for the New York close price charts. You can find this time in the top left hand side of the trading platform. What is important when trading Forex is that you are aware of when these times are, wherever you are in the world. The Asian Forex trading session categorically begins at the start of the business day in Wellington, New Zealand.

This coincides with the pre-open trading time of the Australian Stock Exchange ASX in Sydney. It ends at the close of the business day in Tokyo, Japan time. This is when the Tokyo Stock Exchange TSE closes. The European Forex trading session begins at the start of the business day in Frankfurt, German time. This coincides with the opening time of the Deutsche Börse, which is the German Stock Exchange. It ends at the close of the business day in London, UK time. This is when the London Stock Exchange LSE closes.

The US Forex trading session begins at the start of the business day in New York, US time. This coincides with the opening time of the New York Stock Exchange NYSE. It also ends at the end of the business day when the NYSE closes. If you have an Android smart phone, you can download this FX hours app.

It shows you when each Forex trading session opens and closes in terms of your local time. See the screen shot below. Here is something similar for iPhone users. It is because more participants are coming online and the number of transactions tends to increase. This creates more supply and demand and pushes the price up or down. When trading sessions overlap, the market is more active, liquidity increases and the price becomes more volatile.

You want to be capturing significant price trends to maximize your potential to profit. When the price trends and closes higher or lower for the day or week, it usually starts earlier in the trading session.

You also want to be able to get in and out of the market easily. So the best times of day to trade Forex is when it is highly liquid. Having said that, the Forex market is the most liquid market in the world. You can buy or sell at any time. Spreads are usually tighter at these times too, which reduces your trading costs.

This is another reason why these times are the best times of day to trade Forex. Since there are three main trading sessions, there are three times each day that are the best times to trade Forex. Each trading session is not necessarily and equally the best time to trade though.

Also, this does not mean you should trade every day or at each of these times. However, you will observe that these times often do provide the best times to trade. When you optimize your market timing and the entry and exit price, you can limit risk and maximize your potential to profit.

The image below shows the best times of day to trade Forex during daylight saving time. You can convert these times to your local time or follow the time in the market watch window.

Which means volatility will likely be higher or lower at certain times of the day and during each trading session. Volumes, liquidity and volatility are also different between currency pairs. Some currency pairs are naturally more volatile than others. The most liquid and most volatile times to trade under normal market conditions is when the EU and US sessions overlap.

Spreads are tighter during these times and the price tends to trend better too. In my opinion, the best opportunities can be found at the beginning of the US session. The second best times of day to trade are at the beginning of the EU session and the London open. The least liquid time is during the Asian session. The Asian session is also categorized by lower volatility and wider spreads.

This is particularly the case shortly after the market rolls over. If you open a trade around this time, your transaction cost will likely be higher.

In my opinion, the Asian session is the third best time of day to trade Forex. The market tends to consolidate and become range bound during this time. Of course, this all depends on your trading style and strategy….. Now that you know when to look for the best trading opportunities, also consider what currencies to trade. Ideally, you would want to be following currencies that are active for the session. For example, during the Asian session, consider looking for trading opportunities in the AUD, NZD and JPY.

These are the most active trading sessions so it will be. You just might be able to get an optimal trade entry for this currency pair during the Asian session. Generally speaking, it will be to your advantage to trade currency pairs for those countries that are online at the time. I would suggest observing what the price does and has done during these times on your chart. You can decide what currency pairs to trade depending on your findings and what suits you. Trading is not an exact science, there are no certainties and markets do change over time.

It is about determining patterns and trends, assessing probabilities and balancing risk vs potential reward. Timing is just one variable in Forex trading that could help stack the probabilities in your favor. I appreciate that you probably have a job and this might make it difficult to trade during the day.

If you are in an Asian time zone, you are somewhat in luck. This is because you could catch most of the European session and the open of the US session at night. Any currency that is paired with the USD or CAD would probably be the best currency pairs to trade at night. For traders in a European time zone, night time trading would allow you to catch the second part of the US session and the Asian session open.

The AUDUSD and the USDJPY could be good currency pairs to trade. Any currency paired with the USD, CAD, NZD, JPY and AUD might provide some trading opportunity. Night time trading in a US time zone would involve trading during the Asian session. If you are inclined to trade in the early hours of the morning, you could also catch the European and London open. The Best currencies to trade at this time would be those that are paired with the AUD, NZD and the JPY.

Then for the European and London open, currencies paired with the EUR, GBP and the CHF as an example. However, it is worth mentioning that just because you have opened your trading platform, this does not mean that you must find a trade. Sometimes the best position is not to have a position and simply do nothing.

Many first-time forex traders hit the market running. They watch various economic calendars and trade voraciously on every release of data, viewing the hours-a-day, five-days-a-week foreign exchange market as a convenient way to trade all day long. Not only can this strategy deplete a trader's reserves quickly, but it can burn out even the most persistent trader. Unlike Wall Street, which runs on regular business hours, the forex market runs on the normal business hours of four different parts of the world and their respective time zones, which means trading lasts all day and night.

So what's the alternative to staying up all night long? If traders can gain an understanding of the market hours and set appropriate goals, they will have a much stronger chance of realizing profits within a workable schedule.

First, here is a brief overview of the four markets hours in Eastern Standard Time, or EST :. New York open 8 a. is the second-largest forex platform in the world, watched heavily by foreign investors because the U. Movements in the New York Stock Exchange NYSE can have an immediate and powerful effect on the dollar.

When companies merge, and acquisitions are finalized, the dollar can gain or lose value instantly. Tokyo, Japan open 7 p. is the first Asian trading center to open, takes in the largest bulk of Asian trading, just ahead of Hong Kong and Singapore. dollar vs. Japanese yen. Sydney, Australia open 5 p. is where the trading day officially begins. While it is the smallest of the mega-markets, it sees a lot of initial action when the markets reopen on Sunday afternoon because individual traders and financial institutions are trying to regroup after the long pause since Friday afternoon.

London, Great Britain open 3 a. to noon : The United Kingdom U. dominates the currency markets worldwide, and London is its main component. The city also has a big impact on currency fluctuations because Britain's central bank, the Bank of England, which sets interest rates and controls the monetary policy of the GBP, has its headquarters in London.

Forex trends often originate in London as well, which is a great thing for technical traders to keep in mind. Technical trading involves analysis to identify opportunities using statistical trends, momentum, and price movement.

Currency trading is unique because of its hours of operation. The week begins at 5 p. EST on Sunday and runs until 5 p. on Friday. Not all hours of the day are equally good for trading. The best time to trade is when the market is most active. When more than one of the four markets are open simultaneously, there will be a heightened trading atmosphere, which means there will be more significant fluctuation in currency pairs.

When only one market is open, currency pairs tend to get locked in a tight pip spread of roughly 30 pips of movement. Two markets opening at once can easily see movement north of 70 pips, particularly when big news is released. The best time to trade is during overlaps in trading times between open markets.

Overlaps equal higher price ranges, resulting in greater opportunities. Here is a closer look at the three overlaps that happen each day:. While understanding the markets and their overlaps can aid a trader in arranging his or her trading schedule, there is one influence that should not be forgotten: the release of the news.

A big news release has the power to enhance a normally slow trading period. When a major announcement is made regarding economic data —especially when it goes against the predicted forecast—currency can lose or gain value within a matter of seconds. Even though dozens of economic releases happen each weekday in all time zones and affect all currencies, a trader does not need to be aware of all of them.

It is important to prioritize news releases between those that need to be watched versus those that should be monitored. In general, the more economic growth a country produces, the more positive the economy is seen by international investors. Investment capital tends to flow to the countries that are believed to have good growth prospects and subsequently, good investment opportunities, which leads the country's exchange strengthening.

Also, a country that has higher interest rates through their government bonds tend to attract investment capital as foreign investors chase high yield opportunities. However, stable economic growth and attractive yields or interest rates are inexorably intertwined. Examples of significant news events include:. A stock exchange generally lists and trades in shares of a given country, so even when other stock markets are open internationally, they are largely trading in local securities and not the same exact stocks.

While there are foreign stocks listen in the U. as ADRs, for example, the ADR shares will remain closed at certain hours when the actual foreign shares are open, and vice-versa. Liquidity refers to how easy it is to quickly buy or sell securities for a fair price. On the other hand, in an illiquid market the spread between the bid and ask may be very wide and not very deep.

I general, liquid currency pairs are those that are active and have high trading volume. The most traded currencies in the world include the U. Dollar USD , Euro EUR , Japanese Yen JPY , British Pound GBP , Australian Dollar AUD , Canadian Dollar CAD , and Swiss Franc CHF.

It is important to take advantage of market overlaps and keep a close eye on news releases when setting up a trading schedule. Traders looking to enhance profits should aim to trade during more volatile periods while monitoring the release of new economic data. This balance allows part-time and full-time traders to set a schedule that gives them peace of mind, knowing that opportunities are not slipping away when they take their eyes off the markets or need to get a few hours of sleep.

Bank for International Settlements. Bank of England. Kathy Lien. Company News Markets News Cryptocurrency News Personal Finance News Economic News Government News. Your Money. Personal Finance. Your Practice. Popular Courses. Table of Contents Expand. Table of Contents. Forex Markets Hours of Operation. The Best Hours for Forex Trading. Overlaps in Forex Trading Times. Impact of News Releases. The Bottom Line. Key Takeaways The forex market runs on the normal business hours of four different parts of the world and their respective time zones.

The U. to noon EST has the heaviest volume of trading and is best for trading opportunities. is not as volatile as the U. Why Do Forex Markets Trade Around the Clock But Not Stock Markets? Why Is Forex Liquidity Important? Which Are the Most Liquid Currencies?

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The offers that appear in this table are from partnerships from which Investopedia receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where listings appear. Investopedia does not include all offers available in the marketplace. Related Articles. Partner Links. Related Terms. Forex Market Hours: Can You Trade 7 Days a Week? Forex market hours refers to the specified period of time when participants are able to transact in the foreign exchange market.

Forex FX : How Trading in the Foreign Exchange Market Works The foreign exchange, or Forex, is a decentralized marketplace for the trading of the world's currencies. Foreign Exchange Market: How It Works, History, and Pros and Cons The foreign exchange market is an over-the-counter OTC marketplace that determines the exchange rate for global currencies.

National Currency A national currency is a legal tender issued by a central bank or monetary authority used to exchange goods and services. Overnight Position Overnight positions refer to open trades that have not been liquidated by the end of the normal trading day and are often found in currency markets. Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Newsletter Twitter.

It trades in all four sessions, making it easy to trade from anywhere in the world. Popular Courses. For example, during the Asian session, consider looking for trading opportunities in the AUD, NZD and JPY. Forex Market Hours Fibonacci Calculator Pivot Point Calculator Margin Calculator Pip Calculator. I will use the time in the market watch window on the MT4 and MT5 trading platform for the start and end times for each trading session. com All rights reserved. Refresh page every minutes set refresh to 0 to turn off refresh.

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