Market Hours
The Forex market is open 24 hours a day, and it is important to know which is the most active trading periods in which you can trade your chosen currency pairs profitably.
Trading sessions are periods of time when banks are actively trading. As is well-known, Forex working hours are unlimited and it functions round the clock. Sessions come one after another, or partially superimpose on one another, giving traders a possibility to trade whenever convenient to them.
To know the schedule of trading sessions on the Forex market is also useful because currencies behave differently according to different trading sessions. For instance, if we take a less active period after New York closes and before Tokyo opens, Sydney will be open for trading but with more modest activity than the three major sessions (London, US, Tokyo). Consequently, less activity means less financial opportunity. If you want to trade currency pairs like EUR/USD, GBP/USD or USD/CHF you will find more activity when both Europe and the United States are active.
Trading hours Schedule
The time zone is GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)
| Region | City | Open (GMT) | Close (GMT) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asia | Tokyo Hong Kong |
12:00 am 01:00 am |
09:00 am 10:00 am |
| Europe | Frankfurt London |
07:00 am 08:00 am |
04:00 pm 05:00 pm |
| America | New York Chicago |
01:00 pm 02:00 pm |
10:00 pm 11:00 pm |
| Pacific | Wellington Sydney |
10:00 pm 10:00 pm |
06:00 am 07:00 am |
Trading Sessions
Below is a brief of trading sessions that will help you make the most of the market.
Asian Session
During this forex trading hours the most active deals in the market exchange operations are the US dollar against the yen (USDJPY), the euro against the yen (EURJPY), the US dollar against the euro (EURUSD) and the Australian dollar against the US dollar (AUDUSD).
European Session
At this time the trades are conducted in the European financial centers. The volatility of the most popular currency pairs increases significantly after the London forex online market starts its session. Changes of rates during the European trading hours could be significant, because the majority of monetary stock is concentrated in Europe. EUR, GBP, USD are the most active.
US Session
Forex trading activity reaches its maximum level when the New York session opens and US banks begin to work, and European dealers return after their lunch break. The influence of European and American banks is similar, so no significant changes take place in Forex compared to the start of the European session. However, after the termination of the European market volatility may be higher. Often this is observed on Friday, before the weekend. The American session is more aggressive in trade than others and USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, JPY are the most active.