The best time to trade forex will naturally depend on where you live in the world, and which currency pairs you want to trade.
However, the best time to trade any asset is when the market is at its busiest.
That’s when there are the most active buyers and sellers, and therefore the greatest liquidity.
Here we look at FX trading times around the globe, and when the busiest times are for trading different pairs.
What is the best time to trade forex?
It’s theoretically possible to trade 24-hours a day, 5.5 days a week around the world, as trading sessions overlap due to international time zones.
As the markets in the west of the United States are closing for their weekend break, so the NZ, Sydney and Asian markets are opening in the east.
As the Asian markets end their day, so the European markets are opening, and so on, providing that continuous 24-hour trading opportunity.
The opening hours of financial markets around the world, how they overlap, and best trading times:
Different asset classes (for example, stock CFDs) do have defined opening and closing hours.
These are based on the opening and closing hours of individual stock markets in the major financial centres of the world, such as the London Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange.
Forex trading sessions
There are three main financial hubs in the world, Asia, Europe and the US.
The European market is often called the London market, and the US market is frequently referred to as the New York market.
Opening times between these three zones overlap.
These overlapping trading hours, between the end portion of a session on one continent, and the opening of the next, are some of the busiest, and therefore most profitable times to trade.
It is said that retail ‘Mum and Dad’ traders open any market, and professional traders close the market.
Therefore, the last hour of any trading session tends to be the busiest and most volatile.
In most markets, even if there is no closure for a lunch hour, activity tends to be slowest during the lunch period at the local time.
Asia and Australasia – the start of the trading week
The Asian session starts off the trading week.
The Sydney Stock Exchange is the first market to open, followed by Tokyo and Singapore and Hong Kong.
Some Asian markets are closed for a lunch break during the day. Here are the opening times of these main Asian markets:
| Name | Market | Time zone | Trading hours |
|---|---|---|---|
Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) | Sydney, Australia | AEDT | 10.00am to 4.00pm |
Tokyo Stock Exchange | Tokyo, Japan | JST | 9.00am to 11.30am and 12.30pm to 3.00pm |
Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) | Shanghai, China | CST | 9.30am to 11.30am and 1.00pm to 2.57pm |
Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK) | Hong Kong | HKT | 9.30am to 12.00pm and 1.00pm to 4.00pm |
Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) | Singapore | SGT | 9.00am to 12.00pm and 1.00pm to 5.00pm |
Korea Exchange (KRX) | Seoul, South Korea. | KST | 9.00am to 3.30pm |
Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) | Taipei, Taiwan | CST | 9.15am to 1.30pm |
The European financial markets
Next, these are the opening hours of the main European markets:
| Name | Market | Time zone | Trading hours |
|---|---|---|---|
London Stock Exchange | London, United Kingdom | GMT | 8.00am to 4.30pm |
Frankfurt Stock Exchange | Frankfurt, Germany | CEST | 8.00am to 10.00pm |
SIX Swiss Exchange | Zurich, Switzerland | CEST | 9.00am to 5.20pm |
Euronext Paris Stock Exchange (PAR) | Paris, France | CET | 8.00am to 4.30pm |
The United States financial markets
These are the opening hours of the main stock markets in the United States and Canada:
| Name | Market | Time zone | Trading hours |
|---|---|---|---|
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) | New York, United States | EDT | 9.30am to 4.00pm |
Nasdaq Stock Market | New York, United States | EDT | 9.30am to 4.00pm |
Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) | Toronto, Canada | EDT | 9.30am to 4.00pm |
The working hours of the New York Stock Exchange marks the most active period for trading within a 24-hour time period, as this is the largest stock exchange in the world.
However, the NYSE only has a relatively short trading session of just six hours and 30 mins (compared to almost 8.5 hours when the London Stock Exchange is open, for example).
This means that most major news events happen while the NYSE is shut. For this reason, many traders take advantage of extended trading hours.
These extended trading hours enable you to place orders and open and close trades while the market is shut.
Pre-market trading for U.S. stocks occurs between 4.00am and 9.30am ET on weekdays.
After-hours trading, on the other hand, is from 4.00pm to 8.00pm ET on weekdays.
Forex trading hours
The global foreign currency exchange (forex) market is a little different from other asset classes, as it has no physical central exchange.
Rather, it consists of a connected group of banks and brokerage companies that all exchange currencies amongst themselves.
Therefore, the forex market is open 24-hours a day for 5.5 days a week.
However, there are four main trading sessions based on local daylight time in London, New York, Sydney and Tokyo.
The most active trading times for forex are when the London and New York trading sessions overlap, which is for about four hours in every 24-hour period, Monday to Friday.
There are just two public holidays per year when the entire forex market is closed, which are Christmas Day (December 25th) and New Year’s Day (January 1st).
Best forex trading session times
As noted above, the best time to trade forex is when the market is most active, as this is when the highest number of trades are undertaken.
You’ll get tighter spreads and less slippage in a more active market.
The best FX trading hours will also depend on which currency pair you are trading.
You’ll get the best spreads when two of the four markets are open, trading the pairs of the open exchanges.
The highest trading volume is also when two of the forex markets are open and overlap, as shown below:
- For example, if you are trading EUR/USD, the best time to trade this pair is when both the European and US markets are open and overlapping. This is between 12.00pm and 4.00pm UTC.
- If you are trading AUD/JPY, the best time to trade is when both the Sydney and Tokyo sessions are most active and overlap, which is between 12.00am and 6.00am UTC.
Forex trading session times
- Sydney is open from 9.00pm to 6.00am UTC
- Tokyo is open from 12.00am to 9.00am UTC
- London is open from 7.00am to 4.00pm UTC
- New York is open from 1.00pm to 10.00pm UTC
Forex trading session market overlap hours
London and New York:
The London forex session and the New York session overlap from 12.00pm to 4:00pm UTC time in summer and winter.
Tokyo and London:
The Tokyo forex session and the London session overlap during the summer from 7:00am to 8:00am UTC.
Daylight savings time (DST)
The open and close times of these FX sessions also changes in some countries twice a year due to daylight savings.
These changes occur during October/November and again during March/April.
Countries that do have daylight savings include the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
It’s important for forex traders to be aware of daylight saving time changes and to adjust their trading hours accordingly.
Best gold trading session times
There are a number of ways to trade gold. These include:
- As a commodity, physically buying gold bullion
- As a CFD on an exchange-traded fund
- Through CFDs on gold mining stocks
- Through a futures contract
- As a forex currency pair against the US dollar, XAU/USD
The three most important gold trading centres in the world are:
- The London Gold OTC (Over The Counter) Market
- The US Futures Market
- The Shanghai Gold Exchange
The most active gold trading hours are during the North American trading session, which is between 12.00pm and 8.00pm UTC.
During the European trading session, the most active hours are 7.00am to 3.00pm UTC.
The Shanghai Gold Exchange opens at 1.30am UTC and closes at 7.30am UTC.
It operates from 9.00am to 3.30pm local time (CST) Monday to Friday, and 9.00am to 2.30pm local time on Saturday. It is closed on Sundays.
International Market Hours Calculator
If you want to check the exact market hours for the region where you live, you can use this handy market hours calculator:
The great news about trading is that you can trade something, somewhere, 24-hours a day, almost 7-days a week.
While some physical stock markets do close at weekends, forex trading is available 5.5 days a week.
The overlap in world time zones means that trading is possible almost any time at all.
This means you can fit your trading into your personal lifestyle and time restraints.
Day or night, trading is possible at almost any time that’s convenient to you.
Happy trading!
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Sources
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- Investopedia – The Best Times To Trade Forex. https://www.investopedia.com/articles/forex/08/forex-trading-schedule-trading-times.asp
