Forex market hours. When to trade and when not to
Forex market is open 24 hours a day. It provides a great opportunity for traders to trade at any time of the day or night. However, when it seems to be not so important at the beginning, the right time to trade is one of the most crucial points in becoming a successful Forex trader.
Best time to trade and why?
The best time to trade is when the market is the most active and therefore has the largest trading volume.
The most active hours are London and New York trading sessions, especially when those sessions overlap.
Active market hours yield many good trading opportunities and better profits. While calm slow markets would literally waste your time & efforts — turn off your computer and don't even bother!
Live Forex Market Hours Monitor:
Forex trading hours, Forex trading time:
New York opens at 8:00 am to 5:00 pm EST (EDT)Tokyo opens at 7:00 pm to 4:00 am EST (EDT)
Sydney opens at 5:00 pm to 2:00 am EST (EDT)
London opens at 3:00 am to 12:00 noon EST (EDT)
Most Active Hours = when two sessions overlap:
New York and London: between 8:00 am — 12:00 noon EST (EDT)Sydney and Tokyo: between 7:00 pm — 2:00 am EST (EDT)
London and Tokyo: between 3:00 am — 4:00am EST (EDT)
For example, trading EUR/USD, GBP/USD currency pairs would give good results between 8:00 am and 12:00 noon EST when two markets for those currencies are active.
At those overlapping trading hours you'll find the highest volume of trades and therefore more chances to win in the foreign currency exchange market.
What about your Forex broker?
Your broker will offer a trading platform with a certain time frame (the time frame will depend on the country where broker operates).
When focusing on market hours, you should ignore the time frame on your platform (in most cases it'll be irrelevant), and instead use the universal clock (EST/EDT) or the Market Hours Monitor to identify trading sessions.
If you haven't chosen a Forex broker yet, we recommend Forex brokers comparison to aid your search.
We have made it easy for everyone to monitor Forex trading hours sessions while being anywhere in the world:
| Download Free Forex Market Hours Monitor v2.11 (535KB) Last update: October 5, 2006. This is a simple program aligned to Eastern Standard Time. Download Free Forex Market Hours Monitor v2.12 (814KB) Last update: April 20, 2007. Time zone option is added for most of North American and European countries. |
To your trading success!
Jeff Boyd
