One of the major advantages that the foreign exchange market provides traders is that currencies are traded all day, every day, and seven days a week. This means you can begin trading on Sunday afternoon at EST and trade non-stop until Friday afternoon, EST. The round-the-clock trading feature makes it possible for those who are prone to work hours a suitable market to work. But still, lets look into best time to trade forex.
The reason for this possibility lies in the time zones and when markets open across different regions of the globe. For instance, since the day starts at Asia in the Far East, the forex market is open at New Zealand, Australia and Asia first, and then Europe before moving to North America. But, bad trading times are also present, which is why the following sections will discuss the timetable for trading on the forex market and the top and worst times to make trades. All times are listed as Eastern Standard Time or EST.
TIME WORLD FOREX MARKETS TABLE
The market for foreign exchange opens at the Sydney session beginning at 5:00 pm (EST) located in Sydney, Australia, although certain brokers who are located in New Zealand will make prices an hour earlier when they have their open at 4:00 pm. Wellington closes at midnight. Sydney closes at 11:30 am.
For the following trading week in the following week, the Sydney market opens at 5:00 pm EST is essentially exactly the same time as New York Session’s 5:00 pm close at 5:00 pm EST the next day. That is while the New York market closes on Monday, New York closes on Monday at 5:00 pm, and markets in Sydney start on Tuesday mornings in its time zone. This permits many professional forex traders who are based within New York to pass their order books to traders in Sydney to watch for at most until Tokyo opening.
After two hours after the Sydney opening, the foreign exchange market begins in Tokyo (The Asian or Tokyo session) at 7:00 pm Eastern Standard Time before closing at 4:45 am. Singapore also Hong Kong open two hours after Tokyo at 9:00 pm and close at 5:00 am. It is interesting to note that the last Asian Session trading hours occur during which is when the London Session opens while the Asian session is closing and is among the most popular trading hours in forex.
For European time, Frankfurt opens at 2:00 am and closes at 10:10 am. The main London Forex trading day begins at 3:00 am and ends at 11:11 am.
East Cost North American markets start in the morning in New York at 8:00 am and close at 5:45 pm. Chicago trading begins an hour later than Chicago, and California trading takes three hours earlier.
The trading hours for forex continue to be in full swing through the week, and the forex market is open until Friday when the New York Session closes. This is when trading in forex is over for the duration of the week. Following it is the New York close at 5:00 pm EST, the market allows its traders to reflect on the meaning of life.
The break will last through the remainder of Friday, and all of Saturday and continues until the time of 5:00 pm EST on Sunday when the Sydney Session opens.
TRADE TIMES TO keep in mind
Between 5:00 pm between 7:00 pm and 5:00 pm between 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm, the New York forex market has closed. The only markets open are in Chicago until 6:00 pm and those in the West Coast offices of certain U.S. banks that may remain open until 7 pm. There is also the option of trading into the markets that are less crowded in New Zealand, which opens at 4:00 pm, and Australia, which opens at 5:00 pm.
This is a period of the period during the day of trading when the market can be extremely thin, and therefore price spreads could widen dramatically. In essence, staying away from trading in periods of no liquidity or highly volatile markets will save you money in terms of your trading position and in relation to your bid-offer spread that you could be quoted for the trade.
Other times that might not be the best time to trade are the evening session on Sundays and Fridays when markets are looking forward towards the weekend and generally trades in a counter-trend manner since the positions are put in the square.
Another time of risky trading is when significant numbers like U.S. Non-Farm Payrolls go out. If the actual figure differs significantly from the consensus expectations, then the exchange rate could quickly change to discount the latest information as quickly as possible. Not only this, but you need to remember the best forex trading platforms for beginners to know more about the best trading time.