If you want to make money trading foreign exchange, you should do so during the hours of the day when retail orders can be easily filled, and trading volumes and volatility are high enough. From Monday through Friday, there is a brief four-hour window when the two busiest sessions, with the greatest FX trading volumes (Europe and America), overlap. Visit multibankfx.com
Different high-impact news announcements, such as those made by central banks, can cause considerable volatility and price surges, and these announcements tend to coincide with the sessions that overlap. For many investors, the optimal time to trade the foreign exchange market is during a four-hour overlap when these factors converge.
Forex Trading Sessions: Live Across All Time Zones
The fact that foreign exchange (Forex) can be traded 24 hours a day, 5.5 days a week, and 365 days a year is a major perk of this market. By remaining active throughout the day and most of the week, traders from all over the world are afforded the convenience of trading at any time that suits them. They are free to engage in as much or as little trading as they like, whenever they have time, be it during regular business forex market trading hours, after hours, or even overnight.
There are, of course, drawbacks to the market being open around the clock. Although it’s great to be able to trade whenever we like, as human beings we also need time to rest, eat, and unwind, and so we cannot be constantly on guard over our accounts.
There will always be occasions when we are not around to take advantage of a situation or when a sudden price movement goes against our established positions. Because of this inherent shortcoming, traders in the foreign exchange market must pick the fx trading hours to trade based on their own schedules and the underlying assumptions of their trading strategies.
Forex session times: GMT/EST Forex Sessions
Each session has liquidity, but some are more volatile than others. Currency pairs’ activity varies during the trading day based on the demographics of online users. Timing is crucial in the 24-hour Forex market and choosing the optimum forex open hours can boost profits. Globally, there are 3 FX market sessions.
9am–6pm JST Tokyo Session
Every trading day begins with the Asian session. Sydney, Australia, opens the market very early, but Tokyo, Asia’s financial powerhouse, joins an hour later. Tokyo is the first forex session to commence and is a key Asian financial centre. Tokyo represents 6% of worldwide FX transactions during the Asian trading period. During the Asian session, many significant market participants are actively positioning their orders. The forex market trading hours feature market consolidation and narrow currency price ranges.
Most retail traders look for trading opportunities by preparing to trade potential price breakouts. This occurs when the Tokyo session overlaps with the Frankfurt session (starting at 8 a.m. CET) and eventually moves to the London session, increasing volatility and trade volumes. Traders and enterprises from significant Asian economies use their own currency in currency exchange transactions.
8am-5pm GMT London Session
Given that 34.1% of global daily turnover happens in London and 7.5% in France, Germany, and Denmark, the European session should not be disregarded. London is the world’s most turbulent currency market due to its many traders. It connects the Asian and American sessions. The challenge for US traders is that the European session runs from 2 a.m. to 12 p.m. EST. This session is perfect for European traders, and Asian traders can trade it in the evening (3 pm to Midnight, Hong Kong Time). Traders from Europe employ the Euro, British Pound, and Swiss Franc during this session.
8am-5pm EST, New York Session
Given that 16.6% of the world’s daily turnover occurs in the US (NYC) and that most world financial markets follow Wall Street patterns and data, it’s easy to see why the US session is essential. Most can trade this session if they don’t work. The Asians are presumably already in bed, so the Europeans must remain up late to trade. When two market sessions are open at the same time, there are two “hot zones” to trade (called a session overlap”). This session overlap is twice peak liquidity.
Forex Trading Days: Forex Weekday Pips
Forex permits trading 5.5 days a week, including Sunday, but not every day is equal. Some days have more volume and more range than others. The best days of the week for forex trading are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. These are the best three days to trade per week.
Forex Risky Days
1. Sunday: Everyone is still enjoying their weekend, so don’t expect much activity unless there’s important news. Sunday could see continuations or reversals of Friday’s trends.
2. Monday has a smaller pip range than Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Traders are expecting economic news and data this week. Monday might be beneficial, and you don’t want to miss a move. Monday may bring countertrend moves that are reversed by Tuesday or Wednesday. False transactions can result.
3. Friday is a virtual half-day because trading is brisk until noon EST and then slows until 5:00 pm EST. Friday morning still offers trading opportunities. This could be a day of trend reversals. On Friday afternoon, volume can drop dramatically, increasing spreads.
Best Months to Invest in Foreign Exchange
It is possible to split the entire year into thirds, beginning with the three dreadful months of summer, continuing to the four great months of autumn, and finishing with the four decent months of winter-spring.
1. The three most difficult months in the summer are June, July, and especially August.
2. September, October, November, and December are the four most favourable months (Autumn).
3. The five favourable months (winter through spring) are as follows: January, February, March, April, and May.
The decrease in forex open hours that occurs over any vacation season is followed by a revitalizing increase in trading activity during the months that immediately follow the holiday period, which is analogous to how rain falls after a dry spell.
Forex’s Worst Times
Not considering the hazards of trading on news releases, the worst forex hours are when the markets are in “sleep mode.” The Sydney and Tokyo sessions are 10 hours of low trading activity. Unless you’re scalping to take advantage of less liquidity, it’s a good time to rest. When scalping trader volume is low, few trends form. Most European traders have gone to bed, while most US traders have gone home or to bed. If you’re awake and have time, prepare for the European practice.