Forex Trading – Market Hours

This is true for both day traders and trend traders as the day traders depend on the volatility and the liquidity in the market while the trend traders need to time their entry and exit correctly so that they can make the most of their trades. Traders also must be aware of economic events that publish every day on the economic calendar to take advantage of movements due to released economic data.

Forex Market Hours By Region

Traders have found the forex market hours clock to be a tough one to understand as they live in different regions of the world and also due to the fact that the liquidity in the markets flows different during the different sessions of the market. That is why it is important to understand forex market hours on the basis of a fixed time standard and hence we will be specifying all the times in GMT.

Traders will have to find out whether they are ahead or behind the GMT and by how many hours. They will also have to keep in mind the Daylight Saving Time in their region so that they can calculate the market hours correctly. Due to all these factors the forex market hours in India are likely to be very different from the forex market hours in South Africa, for example.

Now that we have set the base timezone as GMT, we move on to understand the available forex market sessions. There are 4 market sessions based on timings and these are the Sydney session, the Tokyo session, the London session and the New York Session. The markets have been democratic is splitting these sessions across continents with one session each in Australia, Asia, Europe and the Americas.

The Sydney session begins at 10 PM GMT during summer (between April and October) while it begins at 9 PM GMT during winter. The Tokyo session opens at 11 PM GMT and closes at 8 AM GMT all through the year. The London session opens at 7 AM GMT and closes at 4 PM GMT during summer (with one hour delay in winter) while the NY session opens at noon GMT and closes at 9 PM GMT during summer (with one hour delay in winter).

Traders need to go through the above timings again and again a few times to fully grasp it all. The challenges in understanding this are multiple as the sessions are four and you have to convert them into your timezone and then you also have to adjust it for DST. It’s a tough one to grasp but as you start trading and try and keep this in mind, you would begin to get used to it as time goes by.

The best time to trade forex

So how do you use forex market hours clock while trading? The liquidity and the volatility varies from session to session. It is low during the Sydney session and it picks up as the Tokyo session begins and the traders from Japan join those from Australia. It picks up even further during the London session, even though the Sydney session is closed by then, as the major banks and hedge funds of the world have a branch in the UK and they join the trading and increase the liquidity in the markets. Then the NY session brings in even more volatility and liquidity into the mix and that is when the full flow of the market is seen.

Again, if you are in South Africa for example, it is important for you to understand the forex market hours as in South Africa so that you can plan your trade accordingly. It is always good to avoid times of low liquidity as the prices tend to be either very less volatile or too volatile and you, as a trader, would not be in a position to comprehend the moves that happen in the market.

None of the analysis that you have made, either fundamental or technical, would be useful at times of low liquidity as the market is rocked this way. It is especially important to understand the forex market hours for the weekend as the beginning of the forex market session on Monday is likely to see very little liquidity, as traders return to their desk, but high volatility as the weekend news tend to affect various currencies.

As traders, it is important to stay out at such times and choose the times when the volatility and the liquidity are pretty good. This is either the London session or the best time to trade would be the time when the London session and the NY session overlap so that you get the best liquidity and  volatility, these can be trusted to lead in the correct direction. The worst possible time would be the time between the end of the US session and the open of the Sydney session but of course, there are some traders (a very rare and unsuccessful breed) who like to use this lack of liquidity to scalp some quick trades.

Forex Open and Close Times

Now that you have understood the different sessions and also understood why it is important to trade during times of high liquidity, lets move on to the next higher level to understand when forex market hours clock opens and closes in a time span of a week. This is generally quite challenging for the traders as once the market begins for the week, prices keep moving all through the day and traders tend to go with the flow. Traders find it difficult to wait for the open on Sundays and also find it difficult to time their closure of trades for the week on Fridays as they are unable to grasp the exact timings.

In the weekend, forex market is generally closed for most part of Saturday and Sunday. But the forex trading hours on the weekend vary from region to region. The market opens for the week at 9 PM or 10 PM GMT (based on summer or winter as specified in the table above) but the actual time varies from country to country depending on their timezone. So, for some traders, depending on which part of the world they are in, the market opens on Sunday itself while for certain traders (like those in Australia), the market opens only on Monday morning. If you are in India, the forex market hours in India are such that the market opens only on Monday early morning.

Likewise, the forex market closes for the week at 9 PM/10PM GMT on Friday and again, depending on which part of the world you are, it closes either on Friday or it closes only on Saturday early morning. This is again something that traders need to get used to so that they can time their trades correctly. Also, in certain weekends, there might have been some important market news and so it becomes important for traders to open or close his trade at market open and at such times, it is important to understand and grasp these timings correctly.

High and Low Volatility During the Forex Trading Day

As we have mentioned earlier, the volatility in the market ebbs and flows according to the forex market hours clock. It may be a good idea to download a clock software with these timings inbuilt so that you can refer them as and when you need it. Again, make sure that you convert these to your timezones so that you don’t get confused.

The volatility, in a week, is a bit high during the first hour or so of trading in a week, especially if there has been some important news over the weekend. Then, it settles down and the volatility, when compared to the other sessions, is generally low during the Sydney session. Once the Tokyo session begins, this is also the time when the other countries in the same timezone, like Singapore and China, join the trading as well and so this is the time when the volatility is high as far as the Asian timezone is concerned.

The volatility then meanders along and there is a spurt again when the London session begins as the major banks and hedge funds and the large investors in Europe join the trading. Ideally, this is the time of the day that the trader should look to begin his trading as the earlier sessions are likely to have a lot of noise and irrelevant trading.

The volatility continues to remain high for the next few hours and then peaks once the NY session begins. This is the time when both the London and NY sessions are open and for around 3-4 hours, the volatility is the highest as traders in both major parts of the world fight it out in the market. Then the London session closes and the volatility slowly dies down and becomes the lowest as the NY session closes.

The forex market hours clock is something that every trader should be mindful of, when he/she is trading. Again, it varies from region to region making it a difficult thing to grasp but once it becomes ingrained into the mind, then it is much easier to operate with and go with the flow.

In addition, choosing a broker in your region or with a broker that can match your daily trading hours can improve your convenience as some brokers publish daily news and forecasts, and hold costumer support in the region’s times.

Tips From the Expert

• There are 4 forex market sessions: Sydney session, Tokyo session, London session and NY session.
• Each of these sessions have at least an hour of overlapping time with the next one.
• The Sydney session is the one with least volatility and generally unfit for high volatility trading style.
• The overlapping hours between the London and the NY session is the time of highest volatility in the markets.
• Traders should always try to wait out the Sydney and Tokyo sessions and begin their trading during the London session as that is when the true volatility and direction for the day is known.
• The FX market for the week begins at 9PM/10PM GMT on Sunday and closes at 9PM/10PM on Friday.
• Traders should be aware of the market timings in GMT, the DST shifts and their own timezone, in relation to the GMT, for them to fully grasp the forex market hours.
• To start with, just try to understand the London and the NY session timings as that is the most important sessions to focus on.