To know the schedule of trading sessions on Forex means being able to rationally allocate one’s efforts and effectively use one’s possibilities and time. 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. When the evening begins in one part of the world, in another part – the morning comes and the local currency market starts working. Sessions come one after another, or partially superimpose on one another, giving traders a possibility to trade whenever convenient to them. Once logged in, you’ll find Forex working at any time, except Saturday and Sunday, when all markets in all countries are closed. Likewise, Forex doesn’t work on holidays, for example Christmas, New Year, and Easter.
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, yen usually “wakes up” and starts to move actively during the Asian session, while euro is more active during the European session. At other times, sharp price movements for these particular currencies are unusual. The most aggressive session out of all is American, which can either significantly drop or, conversely, strengthen, its very own dollar.
As the Forex market employs a lot of countries from different time zones, Forex is considered to work according to universal time. At present instead of GMT standard, which is rendered obsolete, it’s widely accepted to use UTC – Coordinated Universal Time.
Schedule of forex trading hours.
| Trading session | Financial hubs | Open time (UTC+3) | Close time (UTC+3) |
| Asia | Tokyo | 02:00 | 11:00 |
| Hong Kong | 03:00 | 12:00 | |
| Europe | Frankfurt | 09:00 | 18:00 |
| London | 10:00 | 19:00 | |
| America | New York | 16:30 | 01:00 |
| Chicago | 17:00 | 02:00 | |
| Pacific | Wellington | 23:00 | 08:00 |
| Sydney | 01:00 | 10:00 |
Each regional Forex market has its own peculiarities.
Asia Forex Trading Hours
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).
Europe Forex Trading Hours
At this time the trades are conducted in the European financial centres. The volatility of the most popular currency pairs increases significantly after the London forex online market starts its session. Trading activity is somewhat reduced for dinner, but at night the players actively carry out operations again. Changes of rates during the European trading hours could be significant, because the majority of monetary stock is concentrated in Europe.
America Forex Trading Hours
Forex trading activity reaches its maximum level when the New York trading hours 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.