The Forex trading hours open for traders at any time of the day. Currency operations are conducted 24 hours from Monday to Friday. Saturday, Sunday and national holidays are non-working days.
Exchange and OTC Differences
The international financial market "Forex" opened in 1976, when states began a free exchange of currency in connection with the abolition of the "gold standard". The OTC market ensured the movement of capital between countries and contributed to the preservation of the economy.
The participants in the foreign exchange market say - “Forex exchange”. But this is the wrong name of the item, the differences are presented in the table.
Stock exchange | Forex Trading |
Entity | Interbank OTC Currency Exchange |
Centralized site | Does not have a single platform |
State legislative regulation of stock, currency, futures, commodity, option markets. | There is no government regulation, the currency is traded at free prices |
There is an exchange glass, open interest and trading volumes are shown. | Information not provided |
Trading takes place through a broker. The broker is interested in the number of transactions. The broker and the exchange receive a commission on each transaction. The broker's interest is in making the client work on the exchange as long as possible. | Relations are built between the client and the dealing center. The center works as an exchange, what price it wants, and set it up. Interested in losing a client. |
If the decision on currency trading is final, then you should establish relations with licensed brokers who have access to the legal trading floors of Russia and the world - the Moscow Exchange, NASDAQ or NYSE.
World Exchanges
In order to set up a Forex work schedule for your own trading, you should know the schedule of currency exchanges in North America, Europe and Asia. It should be borne in mind that national holidays are non-working days only in the country where they are set. For example, Catholic Christmas is a working day for exchanges in the Muslim world.
The day starts in the Asia-Pacific region. For all exchanges, the Forex operating hours are Moscow time.
- Sydney works from one in the morning until 9 in the morning.
- Tokyo - from 3 a.m. to 11 a.m.
- London starts at 10 a.m. and trades until 6 p.m.
- The last in a day open North American exchanges. The beginning of operations in New York is at 4 p.m., and the end of trading is at midnight. In Chicago, the schedule is shifted by an hour: opening at 5 pm, closing at one in the morning.
Optimization of the trader
Knowledge of the operating mode of centralized trading floors will optimize the working day and increase the effectiveness of the trade. Consider the working hours of the global Forex exchanges in the complex.
- Sydney and Tokyo intersect from 3 a.m. to 9 a.m.
- London and Tokyo work simultaneously from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
- London and New York coincide in the evening from 16 to 18 hours.
- London and Chicago trade synchronously from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Opening hours "Forex" Moscow time at the intersection hours - the most productive for the trader. These intervals are characterized by a large number of participants and high daily transaction volumes. The largest currency transactions are made precisely in the indicated periods. The risk of an unsuccessful transaction is less, and the chance of making a profit is higher.
The foreign exchange trader will not be hindered on the desktop of the Forex Clock computer. They show how much is left before the start and end of trading on world exchanges trading in currency pairs, and also display a banner on the closing and opening.
News to help the trader
Each day of the working week in the currency market has its own characteristics. The start of Forex work on Monday in terms of volumes, volatility and starting price is largely determined by the news background of the weekend.
A trader needs to know the schedule of news releases about global events in the world for each region where exchanges are located. You should focus on the current trading schedules an hour before the news announcement and an hour after the news release. Terrorist acts and local hostilities, speeches by the head of the Fed - these events are strongly reflected in the exchange rate, as they significantly affect the economy.
The hottest battles in the foreign exchange sector occur from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., when the exchanges of London and New York synchronously trade. Even a novice trader with an attentive game in small amounts can get a profit in this period.
Holidays - to relax
Competent, experienced financial ups and downs traders with more than 20 years of experience in currency trading remind of caution when trading on holidays, as on holidays there are a small number of participants and low trading volumes.
When choosing "Forex" you need to build on the type of currency pair that the trader is trading. If the yen is in the area of interest, then welcome to the Tokyo Stock Exchange. It is convenient to trade the pairs "Australian dollar - yen", "euro - yen", "dollar - yen". On the charts, you can see that the euro falls before the opening of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and then begins to grow. The reason lies on the surface - with China, they pay for exports in dollars, and you have to buy euros. Rarely, there are cases when China buys dollars.
So, the trader within the availability should have:
- modes of activity of world exchanges;
- news block release period;
- calendar of events for the year: Fed meetings, tax payments, etc.
Matching schedules and mode
But it’s not enough to know the time of Forex and the summary of political and economic news. Schedules should be studied to establish patterns. Each exchange has its own characteristics, each currency has its own periods of growth and depreciation.
The supervisor will note that there is a period of silence on the exchanges listed above - from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. Moscow time, when there are few participants and small volumes. This is objectively explainable: Asia ended the auction, but Europe has not yet begun.
The battle resumes from 9 a.m. and lasts until one in the afternoon. These hours are the news of continental Europe and the UK.
The rush hour of foreign exchange trading falls on the period from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., when North American exchanges, large funds, banks, and wealthy traders enter the fray. On the graph of the dollar and the euro in the indicated period, high volatility and growth of the dollar are observed, and the euro usually falls.
But you should always remember the risks and make transactions prudently.
Trading and emotions
It is appropriate to recall the psychology of bidding. The working hours of Forex, as mentioned above, are 24 hours a day. But the trader needs to control the length of stay at the computer. It is enough to devote one hour a day to the study of the rules of trade. Two hours to get acquainted with the news flow. Half an hour per deal. Do not turn into a slave Forex. In life, there is not only a foreign exchange market.
Speculation on the "Forex" - not quite the right strategy. Fundamental analysis helps determine the movement of a currency. A long-term game will bear fruit more than speculation.
If the game does not go, do not recoup. An unsuccessful deal should be analyzed, thought over the correct choice of an instrument for trading, and once again check the planned entry points. And then it’s not the Forex availability hours that will control the trader’s capital, but the trader will manage the time.
