The success of trading in Forex depends upon the right time to trade. The currency market is open for 24 hours each day and the traders find great opportunities to trade at almost any time of the day or night. Considering that the Forex trading hours are of prime importance for the trader in selecting the best time for him to trade, you first need understand what the major Forex exchanges are and what time of the day they are open.
Importance of Forex Trading Hours
Every trader in the Forex investment trading market seeks that time to trade when there is the greatest trade volume. The market is the most active during this time and hence, provides an opportunity for an active move of the currency with great liquidity as many institutions and speculators are active. Forex market trading hours that overlap between two major exchanges create active and dynamic currency trading that provides an opportunity for the traders to catch a great trade and make huge profits. A slow moving market is not beneficial and is very difficult to catch a profitable trend as the currency prices are not fluctuating much.
Forex Trading Hours on Important Exchanges
While Forex trading hours GMT times are listed on the popular webisites, such as World Time Zone Converter, we have changed these trading hours into the U.S. eastern time zone:
1. New York opens from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm EST
2. Sydney opens from 6:00 pm to 2:00am EST
3. Tokyo opens from 7:00 pm to 3:00am EST
4. London opens from 3:00 am to 11:00 noon EST
5. Frankfurt opens from 2:00 am to 10:00 am EST
The trading hours Forex traders prefer the most depends upon the countries they are in and the type of trading they prefer (Forex day trading, swing trading, position trading, scalping, etc.). It is generally agreed that the best Forex trading hours are those times when more than one exchange is open at the same time. At those times that two Forex trading markets in two different countries overlap, there are more chances of higher trade volumes and the traders tend to have more chances to win in the Forex markets. Generally, the most active trading takes place between the London market opening and the closing of the US market, which is 3:00 AM to 5:00 PM (U.S. EST). The extremely busiest time is when the London and US Forex exchanges are open at the same time, which is 8:00 AM to 11:00 PM.
Another great time for trading is when the Tokyo and London markets are both active, which is on those occasions when Tokyo and London are both open. This depends on whether Europe is following daylight saving time (DST) or not.
Instead of using time zones to determine the best times to trade, global investors base their trading time using GMT times. The U.S. Eastern Standard Time (EST) is GMT-5. To convert your time zone to GMT to better understand when exactly the exchanges open, you can go to Forex.TimeZoneConverter.com. This site also lists all the Forex exchange times in GMT.
The Major Sessions in GMT Time
There are three major sessions in the Forex market trading hours which are the sessions in London, US and Tokyo:
1. The London session – This starts at 700 GMT and wraps around 1500 GMT. The most active currencies during this session are EUR, GBP and USD.
2. The New York session – The session in US starts at around 1200 GMT and ends at around 2000 GMT. The most active currencies during this Forex trading session are USD, GBP, EUR, AUD and JPY. Again, Forex investing is best when the trading times for the London and New York sessions overlap.
3. The Tokyo session – This is mostly a slow session and the only currency that shows activity during this session is the JPY. The session starts around 2300 GMT ends at 700 GMT.
Best Forex Trading Hours Days
Forex markets open at the Forex trading hours Sunday at about 6PM E.S.T (depends on daylight savings time) in the U.S., and there are no other Forex trading hours weekend trading. The Forex markets close at roughtly 4:30PM E.S.T on Friday. The best days to trade Forex are on Tuesdays, followed by Wednesdays and Thursdays. On these days, the volatility is the greatest, which means that traders have more opportunities to catch fluctuating currency prices. Mondays have low volatility as do Fridays when traders liquidate their positions before the weekend.
You can visit Forex broker sites, such as ACM Forex broker, to see a Forex trading hours chart that will give you all the trading hours in different time zones.