Forex Trading Hours - They Are Not The Same!

By Steve Maenshel

Forex trading hours are the hours when the foreign currency exchange market is open. Even though it may seem that Forex market is always open (it's true in a way), some hours are better for trades, while other hours may actually do more harm than good. Forex trading hours are 24 hours a day, 5 days a week, except for the national holidays. Forex trading hours vary from country to country, according to the hours when main financial institutions of that particular country start and end their business day.

Basically, there are four major zones with various Forex trading hours: Europe, USA, Australia and Asia. Forex opens in Tokyo at 23.00 GMT on Sunday and then in 5 days it closes on Friday at 10 PM in Chicago, thus ending the so-called Forex trading week.

Forex market does not stop its work even during the biggest holidays, because there will always be a region on Earth, which does not considered that day a holiday. The best examples are the opposing Christian and Muslim holidays. When a holiday starts in the Christian regions of the planet, you may simply concentrate your Forex trading hours on the financial centers of the Muslim countries, and vice versa. Even during the "global" holidays, currency trading usually does not just stop. For example, during the Catholic Christmas, you can still get the currency quotes from Muslim countries and other Asian countries banks.

Small volume of traded currencies (often referred to as thin) also occurs at the Forex market on the weekends, but the weekends spent trading at the Forex market, may not result in anything profitable, since it is very difficult to find a good contractor on the weekends, and it's even harder to find a good price.

Forex trading hours are different around the globe, which makes Forex one of the most colorful and mixed markets. The currencies that are traded on the Forex market include such major currencies like: USD, Euro, Yen, Pounds, Australian and Canadian Dollars and many others.

Why were Forex trading hours established? Why cant the market be open 24/7 without holidays? Forex trading hours are also needed for employees to carry out certain necessary operations to maintain order at the market, as well as for the traders to simply get some "rest".

The residents of different countries can be surprised that Forex trading hours start and end deep at night in their countries, however you should realize that the foreign exchange market works in different time zones, and thus while in some country Forex might seem to work "at night", in other countries Forex trading hours match regular working hours.

Forex trading hours

Forex trading hours overlap and make up 24 hours of every day, 5 days a week. Trades are also carried out on the weekends. However they are much less active. Below you can take a look at the Forex trading hours in the 4 major time zones, in accordance with Eastern Standard Time:

Tokyo, Trading Hours: 19.00 to 04.00 EST

New York: 8.00 to 17.00 EST

London, Trading Hours: 03.00 to 12.00 (noon) EST

Sydney Trading Hours: 17.00 to 02.00

Forex trading hours are also an important part of a trading strategy, since the trades will differ depending on the Forex trading hours, which you choose to trade at. - 23212

About the Author:

About the author: Steve Maenshel can help you take advantage of the forex trading hours. For more forex trading information, visit his forex resource center.