What are Forex Trading Sessions?
The currency market hardly sleeps; that is, currencies are exchanged 24 hours a day from 23:00. EST and closing at 10 pm EST on Friday.
However, despite this beneficial attribute, all the time is not suitable for currency trading. To make the most of foreign exchange trading, it is essential to understand the best trading hours.
In most cases, the best time to trade is where large volumes are sold in the market. During these hours, you can maximize your income because volatility is high, and price fluctuations occur quickly.
Forex Trading Sessions
The following are the Forex trading sessions every Forex trader must be aware of:
US Trade Times (New York)
Most transactions are open from 8:00 to 12:00. They are open because European merchants continue to operate.
Combine European and US liquidity, and it is not surprising that many of the significant movements appear in the early part of the US session.
Also, monitoring other markets (stocks, bonds, futures, oil, gold, etc.) during trading hours in the United States can help you understand where to go next.
Trend trading strategies can work very well in the United States, because of the significant movements.
European Trade Times (London)
European trade times is the most active exchange period. Liquidity is very high, and movements of 80 to 200 pips are quite common in the European markets.
Trends appear almost every day during the European session. Trend trading strategies, therefore, tend to work very well during this period.
Asian Trade Times (Tokyo)
Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore represent the bulk of the actions in Asia. In general, liquidity during the Asian session is low, and exchange rates sometimes stagnate entirely.
However, there are periods of the Asian period in which you can earn a lot of money, while others do not pay attention. If you have a strategy that depends on secondary markets or variations, the Asian session may be for you.
Forex Market Hours
People trying to enter the foreign exchange market need to understand the best times to negotiate their offers.
In addition to closing at the end of the week, currency trading is about to be bought in a convenience store: the market is open 24 hours.
Although that means you can try currency trading at any moment, day and night, realistically, this will not always be to your advantage. There are rush hours where different currencies are ideal for currency trading, and their learning is essential to a successful transaction.
The optimal time for a Forex broker to execute a currency swap is when the market is the most active. In these daily peaks, the market has the most potent activity and, consequently, the most substantial volume of transactions available.
These peak hours coincide with the overlap of the trading market of each currency. Although currency trading is open 24 hours a day, the individual market in each country opens and closes in cycles of 8 hours.
Currency trading hours are shown below (times shown are based on EST times):
- New York begins from 8:00 to 17:00
- Tokyo is open from 19:00 to 16:00.
- Sydney is open from 17:00 to 14:00.
- London is open from 03:00 to 12:00
For hours, there are periods of overlapping sessions:
- New York and London: between 8 am and noon
- Sydney and Tokyo: between 19:00 and 14:00
- London and Tokyo: 3:00 to 4:00
As such, this means that these are the best times to enter the market because of the best opportunities to make big profits.
For example, trading EUR / USD or GBP / USD can generate good profits between 8:00 and 12:00 when the European session overlaps with the US session. Learn more about the best Forex trading hours in this post.
Finally, it is essential to keep in mind that this does not mean that you should avoid operating beyond these intervals. During these specific periods, you can get more benefits because of the higher volatility than other periods.
Summary Notes on Forex Trading Sessions
Depending on the region of the world you are in, you may need to get up early or sleep late to implement your preferred strategy.
Nobody said that online currency trading was just office service unless you have the chance to live in the area where essential transactions are made.
The ideal currency trading hours are significant for all currency trading strategies, and random trading is one of the fundamental mistakes made by many traders.
Proper timing is essential in all trades. If you want to make more profits, negotiate when the market hours overlap. You have to be careful because it is also risky to trade those hours.
Although you can earn a lot of money on every transaction because of the high volume of currency, you have the same chances of losing a lot of money.