Trading instruments on a decentralized international market with no geographical boundaries means it is important to know when instruments are available in your time zone. When a major international trading center closes, another one opens, allowing you to trade 24/5.
Artcap trading servers operate in the UTC+0 time zone.
The Forex market is open 24 hours a day, five days a week. Trading sessions correspond to the opening times of stock markets in a particular region of the world. Trading volume is usually higher at the intersection of sessions. Forex trading hours always start in Australia and New Zealand, and then spread to Asia. Then comes Europe, and finally the US and Canada join in.
You can trade at any time during the working week that suits you. You can open a currency position for a couple of hours or even less (intraday trading) or for a couple of days (long-term trading) - whatever suits you.
Approximate trading session times (GMT)
There are four types of Forex trading sessions: Australian (Sydney), Asian (Tokyo), European (London), and North American (New York). Some traders refer to them by the names of the continents, while others identify them by their capitals.
In New Zealand, the trading week starts on Monday morning, while in the rest of the world it is still Sunday.
The Australian trading session runs from 21:00 to 06:00 (UTC+0);
The Tokyo trading session starts at midnight and ends at 09:00 (UTC+0);
The London trading session lasts for nine hours, from 07:00 to 16:00 (UTC+0);
Finally, the New York forex market hours are from 13:00 to 22:00 (UTC+0).
Traders usually focus on one of four forex trading sessions.
The New York and London trading sessions are the busiest. Some traders consider the period between the London and New York trading sessions to be the best time to trade forex due to the active markets.
On the contrary, the time between 19:00 and 22:00 (UTC+0) has the lowest volatility. This is because most American traders leave the market, and Australian traders come in.
It is important to remember about Daylight Saving Time (DST). This is the practice of moving the clocks back an hour in the fall and forward an hour in the spring.
Because of this, the Forex market hours are different in summer and winter. You can see below trading times by UTC+0.
You need to remember that trading hours differ for different types of instruments. Although most Forex pairs are open for trading non-stop from Monday to Friday, there are some exceptions.
Instruments such as metals, oil, gas, US stocks and indices are traded from Monday to Friday, but their trading hours vary.
24-hour Forex trading allows market participants around the world to trade at their convenience. For example, a trader from the US can trade together with a trader from Europe during their respective local business hours.
Forex market liquidity also plays an important role in the continuous trading process: traders can buy and sell currencies through the trading platform in one click, even outside of business hours.
In addition, 24-hour Forex trading allows participants to benefit from news outside of business hours. Thus, traders can access trading instruments at any time, reacting to market changes and unexpected events.
What you need to know about trading hours:
The Forex market allows traders to trade 24 hours a day, five days a week, with trading sessions corresponding to stock market hours in different parts of the world.
The four main trading sessions are Australian, Asian, European and North American, with London and New York being the busiest.
It is important to remember that trading hours vary for different types of instruments. To avoid confusion, traders should check the exact trading hours for any trading instrument they wish to trade.
24-hour Forex trading allows traders to benefit from news and market changes outside of business hours, as Forex prices fluctuate constantly.
We wish you successful trading with ArtСap !
