Forex trading hours are the hours when the foreign currency exchange market is open. Even though it may seem that Forex market is always open (it’s true in a way), some hours are better for trades, while other hours may actually do more harm than good. Forex trading hours are 24 hours a day, 5 days a week, except for the national holidays. Forex trading hours vary from country to country, according to the hours when main financial institutions of that particular country start and end their business day.
There are 4 main time zones with different Forex trading hours: USA, Europe, Asia and Australia. For example, Forex opens in Tokyo on Sunday at 23.00 GMT. Tokyo is where the Forex trading week starts. The trading week closes in Chicago at 10 PM on Friday.
Forex market does not stop its work even during the biggest holidays, because there will always be a region on Earth, which does not considered that day a holiday. The best examples are the opposing Christian and Muslim holidays. When a holiday starts in the Christian regions of the planet, you may simply concentrate your Forex trading hours on the financial centers of the Muslim countries, and vice versa. Even during the “global” holidays, currency trading usually does not just stop. For example, during the Catholic Christmas, you can still get the currency quotes from Muslim countries and other Asian countries banks.
One of the least suitable days for Forex trading is the weekends. This is due to that it is often hard to find a counterpart for your transaction, since the volume of both – sellers and buyers – is much less on the weekends. Novice Forex traders should try to only trade within the Forex trading hours on the weekdays.
Forex trading hours vary all over the world, making Forex market a colorful mixture of countries and currencies, including US Dollars, Canadian Dollars, Australian Dollars, Euro, Yens, Pounds etc. Thus you will be able to trade with any currency at the foreign exchange market.
Forex trading hours were established in order to give employees time for Forex transactions, which is not achievable at the time of active trades, as well as probably to give traders some time to “rest and relax”.
Some people ask, why is it that Forex trading hours fall at night in their countries? Well, the reason behind that is that when it is night in one country, it is a daytime in another country. At the time when one country “goes to sleep”, financial institutions in another country are just starting to open.
Four main time-zones of Forex trading hours around the globe:
Forex trading hours of various countries overlap one another, together totaling 24 hours each day for 5 days in the row. Thinner trades are also carried out on the weekends. Please take a look at the 4 main time-zones of the Forex trading hours (EST):
Tokyo Trading Hours: 19.00 to 04.00
New York Trading Hours: 08.00 to 17.00
London: 03.00 to 12.00 (noon) EST
Sydney Trading Hours: 17.00 to 02.00
A trader should get familiar with Forex trading hours, since Forex trading hours are often important to know, in order to gain reliable profits in transactions, rather than getting stuck in thin trades.
About the author: Steve Maenshel can help you take advantage of the forex trading hours. For more forex trading information, visit his forex resource center.
