When you plan to be a part of the biggest financial market in the world, you cannot come unprepared. The average trading volume in the Forex market, on a daily basis, ranges from 2-3 trillion dollars. If you want to achieve a certain amount of success as a Forex trader, you have to study the different aspects related to it thoroughly before taking the plunge. Visit multibank group
You have to be careful while doing research on Forex trading hours and sessions. While you cannot do away with the risk associated with Forex trading, you can control it to a certain extent by choosing suitable trading hours.
The Forex market remains operational twenty-four hours a day but only five days a week. It remains shut during the weekend, that is, on Saturday and Sunday. At any given point in time, the market is flooded with countless participants. These participants, which comprise investors, retail Forex brokers, central banks, investment management firms and hedge funds, participate in this market from different parts of the world.
When you join a Forex trading session, you will realize that the city which emerges as the financial hub in a particular region, is provided with the session title. It takes a while to understand the technicalities associated with different trading hours but with time, you get a hang of it.
When you are making an attempt to figure out the best trading hour or time window to trade Forex currency pairs, you must remember that one trading session could be very different from another. During a particular trading hour, you must also gauge which markets or currencies are offering the highest rate ofliquidity.
Forex Market Hours
One of the foremost lessons about Forex trading hours is that the international currency market does not get affected by just one market exchange. The international currency market encompasses a wide globalized network of brokers and exchanges throughout the world.
The four prominent Forex centers or sessions across the world are New York, Sydney, Tokyo and London. The trading day takes off as the weekday commences in New Zealand. Many major sessions, however, start in Sydney.
When you start studying Forex markets or get involved with them for a certain period of time, you will realize they follow a particular pattern. As curtains are drawn in a particular Forex market, you know it is time for another one to open. You will also realize that the market tends to be busier during certain hours.
Forex Session Timings
One of the first things you get to know while studying Forex session timings is that they keep changing or altering according to seasons. Japan is the only country in the world where Forex sessions do not change as per seasons or other factors. Here is a detailed breakdown of the opening and closing times of Forex sessions during the summer and spring seasonsin different regions.
New York: 08:00 – 17:00 (Local Time) / 13:00 – 22:00 (GMT)
Sydney: 22:00 – 07:00 (GMT) / 07:00 – 16:00 (Local Time)
London: 08:00 – 16:00 (GMT) / 08:00 – 16:00 (Local Time)
Tokyo: 01:00 – 10:00 (GMT) / 09:00 – 18:00 (Local Time)
During the winter season, the Forex market hours tend to be different. The number of traders engaged in Forex trading during the winter is almost the same as the number of traders that get involved with the market during the summer.
New York: 13:00 – 22:00 (GMT) / 08:00 – 17:00 (Local Time)
Sydney:20:00 – 05:00 (GMT) / 07:00 – 16:00 (Local Time)
London:08:00 – 16:00 (GMT) / 08:00 – 16:00 (Local Time)
Tokyo:13:00 – 22:00 (GMT) / 08:00 – 17:00 (Local Time)
Major Forex Trading Sessions
Since the Forex market remains open 24 hours a day, a large number of potential investors get drawn to it. The two-day off also work very well for traders who exhaust themselves after five days of intensive trading. During the week, you will come across days or hours when the price action would be highly volatile. There would also be occasions when not much will be happening.
Forex trader gets the opportunity to trade different currencies as and when they wish to. However, they would not be able to monitor their respective positions for a very long time. You will come across trading hours when there will not be anything significant to do. However, traders monitor the market for long hours as they do not wish to miss out on profitable opportunities.
It is quite interesting to analyze how different Forex trading centers perform and the extent to which they support a trader. For the longest time, London was considered to be the most prominent trading center in Europe. Now, it is acknowledged as the most important trading center in the world.
The London Forex trading session often overlaps with the trading sessions in New York and Tokyo. The increase in Forex activity during a session is directly proportional to a rise in liquidity. Sometimes, volatility drops in the middle of a session and then, rises after a while.
It is also a good exercise to see how different time zones affect the trading activities of individuals based in different parts of the world. For instance, the Asian markets get closed several hours before the trading session in North America goes live.
If you have been feeling skeptical about exploring the Forex market because you have heard too many stories about people losing their money in it, there are a few things you must remember. There are certain things that one can do to make Forex trading a less risky proposition for yourself.
First and foremost, a trader has to be aware of the trading hours during which the market is expected to be very volatile. These are the times during which a Forex trader can make a significant profit. This is the reason you need to have a thorough understanding of market opening hours.