The main part of the Asian session traditionally begins at 2200 GMT, with the Sydney session, followed by Tokyo that starts at 0000 GMT, the markets opening on Sunday night and closing on Friday evening with the New York session ending at 2200 GMT. For the Asian markets, the Sydney session ends at 0700 GMT, with the Tokyo session ending at 0900 GMT. It’s worth noting that there is an overlap between the respective sessions, with the last hour of the Tokyo session overlapping with the first hour of the London session. So, the Asian session starts on Sunday night at 2200 GMT and ends at 0900 GMT on Friday, with the Forex markets closed from Friday to Sunday evening.

Best Strategies to Trade Forex during Asian Hours

The key for anyone looking to trade Forex is a strategy. Based on whether a trader is looking to trade for longer-term positions or based on fundamentals or whether a trader is looking for volatility, such as day traders, the periods during the day to trade become more relevant. Some day traders, who complete multiple trades on a daily basis, would make a little gain in a low volatility environment. However, there are many day traders that are more profitable and know how to take advantage of a low volatility market.

It is generally advised for long-term or fundamental traders to avoid the more volatile periods of a session, which are the trading session overlaps, which in the case of the Asian session would be the New York close, Asian open and the Asian close, European open.

While there may be opportunities to trade fundamentals or for the longer-term during the overlaps, should price action be favorable, the volatility could lead to a trade execution at a less desirable strike price. In addition to the session overlaps between the U.S, Asia, and Europe, the economic calendar will also have a material influence on price action, which again plays into the hands of short-term traders looking for volatility, whilst creating uncertainty for the longer-term or fundamental trader.

Understanding the economic calendar and the level of influence of the data that is released on a monthly, quarterly or on a semi-annual basis is certainly an important consideration for short-term and long-term traders. For short-term traders, being able to predict whether the data release will be positive, neutral or negative for a particular currency presents plenty of trading opportunities, with much of the price action taking place in the hour prior to the release, upon release and in the ten to fifteen minutes following the release. It goes without saying that the greater the deviation of the data released from forecasts, the greater the volatility upon release and the minutes after release.

So, to sum it up, traders looking for increased volatility during the Asian trading hours should be looking to trade economic data releases, during central bank member speeches and in the overlaps between sessions. It is recommended to find a local broker that operates during the Asian trading hours as decreasing trading errors and having a helpful support team from your broker can significantly increase your trading confidence.

For a trader looking to take on more risk, the crosses and even the exotics are there, though, with the exotics, it’s not just the data and sentiment towards the economies that influence, but also a geopolitical risk. For the longer-term or fundamental trader, avoiding periods of volatility stemming from session overlaps and economic data releases would be advised and, when considering the risks and volatility associated with the exotics, avoiding them would also be a wise decision.