Forex trading hours are important for anyone who plans to trade currencies at the Forex exchange market. The Forex market operates twenty four hours a day, five days a week, except for national holidays. Forex trading hours differ due to that various major financial institutions operate in different hours in different time zones.
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 actually works even at the time of major holidays, because different countries celebrate different holidays on different dates, and many of these holidays do not even overlap. For example: Hindu and Jewish holidays, Muslim and Christian holidays etc. When a holiday starts in one part of the world, another part of the world is “available for trading”. In the time of the holidays in one country, you can still get quotes from the banks of another country etc.
One of the least suitable days for Forex trading is the weekends. This is due to that it is often hard to find a counterpart for your transaction, since the volume of both – sellers and buyers – is much less on the weekends. Novice Forex traders should try to only trade within the Forex trading hours on the weekdays.
Forex trading hours vary all over the world, making Forex market a colorful mixture of countries and currencies, including US Dollars, Canadian Dollars, Australian Dollars, Euro, Yens, Pounds etc. Thus you will be able to trade with any currency at the foreign exchange market.
Forex trading hours are believed to also be present for one simple reason – the employees of various institutions need some time to take care of matters. Frankly speaking, Forex traders probably also need to “relax and get some rest” every once in a while.
Some countries actually get the Forex trading hours falling particularly in the time of the late evening and night. However, in other countries Forex trading hours perfectly fit within the regular business day.
Forex trading hours in the main 4 timezones
Forex trading hours of various countries overlap one another, together totaling 24 hours each day for 5 days in the row. Thinner trades are also carried out on the weekends. Please take a look at the 4 main time-zones of the Forex trading hours (EST):
Tokyo Trading Hours: 19.00 to 04.00
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 EST
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.
Author Steve Maenshel can help you understand forex trading hours. For more forex trading information, visit his forex resource center.