Forex Trading Hours – When To Trade?

Forex trading hours are the hours of the opening and closing of the largest market in the world – the foreign exchange market. Forex trading hours overlap each other in various countries around the globe, and one can say that Forex is always open. However, in reality it is not completely so. Forex market is indeed always open, but not everywhere at the same time. As well as, some trading hours are better for trades than others. Forex opening and closing hours depend on the opening and the closing hours of the main financial institutions of various countries.

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.

Probably, the only uncomfortable time for your trades is weekends. Even though you can trade on the weekends, the volume of the transactions will be so thin, that you may risk not being able to find a counterpart for your transaction.

Forex trading hours are different around the globe, which makes Forex one of the most colorful and mixed markets. The currencies that are traded on the Forex market include such major currencies like: USD, Euro, Yen, Pounds, Australian and Canadian Dollars and many others.

Forex trading hours are believed to also be present for one simple reason – the employees of various institutions need some time to take care of matters. Frankly speaking, Forex traders probably also need to “relax and get some rest” every once in a while.

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:

As mentioned above, Forex market is open 24 hours a day, five days a week (with inactive trading during weekends), so you can participate in the trade virtually day and night. Below are the Forex trading hours, according to the Eastern Time Zone for the four major financial centers:

Tokyo Trading Hours: 19.00 to 04.00

New York: 8.00 to 17.00 EST

London: 03.00 to 12.00 (noon) EST

Sydney, Trading Hours: 17.00 to 02.00 EST

Forex trading hours are important for the best trading results. Forex market will become somewhat different depending on the Forex trading hours that you will choose for your trades.

Author Steve Maenshel can help you take advantage of the forex trading hours. For more forex trading information, visit his forex resource center.