Forex Market Hours

Discussion in 'Forex' started by nexx, Apr 6, 2008.

  1. nexx

    nexx

    Im trying to figure out the Actual Forex Open Close Hours because from different websites im getting different times more specifically different close times.

    This is what i find

    Forex trading hours, trading time:

    New York opens 8:00 am to 5:00 pm EST

    Tokyo opens 7:00 pm to 4:00 am EST

    Sydney opens 5:00 pm to 2:00 am EST

    London opens 3:00 am to 12:00 noon EST

    Another website

    Forex Market Center

    Frankfurt
    Germany 02:00 AM-10:00 AM

    London
    Great Britain 03:00 AM-11:00 AM

    New York
    United States 08:00 AM-04:00 PM

    Sydney
    Austrailia 06:00 PM-02:00 AM

    Tokyo
    Japan 07:00 PM-03:00 AM

    as you can see the times are different they are both EST so my question is which one id the correct one?
     
  2. Surdo

    Surdo

    Forex really never closes during the week.
     
  3. nexx

    nexx

    Im aware of that but there are different market hours depending on the location of the Forex Market Center and trading at the times that are most active are better then trading a slow sideways time frame. For example its better to trade the EUR/USD on the London/New York Overlap at 8:00 am — 12:00 noon EST

    "Forex market is open 24 hours a day. It provides a great opportunity for traders to trade any time of the day or at night. However, although it seems to be not very important at the beginning, the right time to trade is one of the most crucial points to be successful in trading at the forex market.
    So, when should one consider trading and why?

    The best time to trade is when the market is the most active and therefore has the biggest volume of trades. More active currency moves will create a good chance to catch the trade and make some profit. A calm, slow market is literally wasting of time — turn off your computer and don't even bother!"
     
  4. Except the weekend, it is open 24 hours. It opens on Sunday at either 2:pM, 4PM or 5:pM (I cannot remember which time). But I do not trade it until 8PM if I do, as not all brokers/dealers have good spreads before 8PM.
     
  5. It's been awhile since I traded forex but I think what these other guys are trying to say is that there are no exact times when the "forex market" opens or closes in different time zones. Since there is no central exchange. Instead you get periods of greater or lesser activity during the periods when other markets (stocks, futures etc.) are open.

    The most active period for EUR/USD is between 10am and 11am EST. By 12pm EST European markets (stock exchanges) are closed and by 12:30pm the last stragglers in London have gone home even for the forex market which is technically never closed. You'll notice that if you enter a trade anytime after about 11:30am it will remain almost flat until about 1:30pm when the New York crowd gets back from lunch.

    After 4pm EST all forex pair trading comes to a virtual halt. A little bit of activity will start up again at 5pm with the New Zealand markets opening, the more at 6pm with Sydney and finally the JPY pairs start hopping at 7pm with Tokyo getting started.

    USD/JPY is probably the most heavily traded forex pair in the world during the Tokyo/London overlap. EUR/USD is a fairly close second during the London/New York overlap. But the Tokyo/London overlap is a horrible time to trade for someone on EST unless you're a night owl.
     
  6. This might be useful for reference (it's about the only useful thing to come out of 4x Made Easy!).....


    [​IMG]
     
  7. ScapGF

    ScapGF

    Do you mean Futures Commission Merchant?
     
  8. attached pdf 'When to Trade' gives stats for pips per time/day of 4 majors
    note it's only an average of some past data, is 4 years old and should be
    viewed as a generality - and possibly outdated

    national mkt hrs may be based on the time commercial traders are at their
    desks, however Price Movement is no respector of such times

    individual broker have different start/end of the week times plus different closings
    and openings for holidays; different rollover times ??? - 6pm EST except Fri

    some S/R - Pivot traders adjust lines according to what they believe to be the
    opening times of various pairs mkts

    there are several MT4 indicators that place a v line or shaded block on the chart to
    indicate various mkt hours
     
    • pips.pdf
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  9. Useful chart. Thanks