The foreign exchange (forex) market spread and a forex trader’s profit depends on when he chooses to trade. Hence forex traders, especially those new to forex trading, would like to find the Best Forex Trading Hours. Experts claim that the optimal time for trading forex is when the market activity is highest; since the difference between the bid and ask prices, the trading spreads will reduce to the lowest level. During this period, the forex brokers make less money, and the forex traders can profit themselves. But is this true only in theory?
The largest forex exchanges in the world are Tokyo, London, Sydney, and New York exchange. Forex traders need to remember when the working hours of these exchanges and when more than one exchange is open. If multiple trades are open, the trading volume increases, increasing the volatility and currency prices. Forex traders can benefit from these factors. Though investors usually do not like volatile markets, high volatility results in more opportunities to profit from forex.
Forex Session times:
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Forex Session Times in EST during spring
During the spring season in Eastern Standard Time (EST), the Forex session times are as follows:
- Sydney Session: This session starts at 6:00 PM EST and ends at 2:00 AM EST.
- Tokyo Session: This session starts at 7:00 PM EST and ends at 3:00 AM EST.
- London Session: This session starts at 3:00 AM EST and ends at 11:00 AM EST.
- New York Session: This session starts at 8:00 AM EST and ends at 4:00 PM EST.
It’s important to note that during daylight saving time, the Forex session times may shift by one hour. Therefore, keeping track of the time changes in your specific time zone is essential to ensure accurate trading times.
Forex Session Times in EST during winter
During the winter in the Eastern Standard Time (EST) zone, the forex time sessions are as follows:
- Sydney Session: This session starts at 5:00 PM EST and ends at 1:00 AM EST.
- Tokyo Session: This session starts at 7:00 PM EST and ends at 3:00 AM EST.
- London Session: This session starts at 4:00 AM EST and ends at 12:00 PM EST.
- New York Session: This session starts at 9:00 AM EST and ends at 5:00 PM EST.
It’s worth noting that during daylight saving time, the forex time sessions in EST are shifted by one hour. So, for example, during daylight saving time, the New York Session starts at 1:00 PM EST and ends at 10:00 PM EST.
Forex Session Times in GMT during spring
During the spring season in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), the Forex session times are as follows:
- Sydney Session: This session starts at 10:00 PM GMT and ends at 6:00 AM GMT.
- Tokyo Session: This session starts at 11:00 PM GMT and ends at 7:00 AM GMT.
- London Session: This session starts at 7:00 AM GMT and ends at 3:00 PM GMT.
- New York Session: This session starts at 12:00 PM GMT and ends at 8:00 PM GMT.
It’s important to note that during daylight saving time, the Forex session times may shift by one hour. Therefore, keeping track of the time changes in your specific time zone is essential to ensure accurate trading times.
Forex Session Times in GMT during winter
During the winter season, the Forex session times in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) are as follows:
- Sydney Session: This session starts at 9:00 PM GMT and ends at 7:00 AM GMT.
- Tokyo Session: This session starts at 11:00 PM GMT and ends at 7:00 AM GMT.
- London Session: This session starts at 8:00 AM GMT and ends at 4:00 PM GMT.
- New York Session: This starts at 13:00 PM GMT and ends at 9:00 PM GMT.
It’s worth noting that during daylight saving time, the Forex session times may shift by one hour. Therefore, keeping track of the time changes in your specific time zone is essential to ensure accurate trading times.
Forex trading sessions in EST and GMT
Forex sessions can be divided into four major trading sessions: the Sydney session, the Tokyo session, the London session, and the New York session. A trading session is a period when market participants actively trade. However, many traders divide forex sessions into Asian, London, and US sessions.
Forex trading sessions GMT (spring and winter time)
There are 15 independent exchanges worldwide, open every week from Monday to Friday. However, these 4 markets are the most liquid and most important. Let us see now the forex session time for EST:
Forex trading sessions EST (spring and winter time)
Sydney trading session
What time does the Sydney session open?
Sydney forex session opens at 22 GMT (springtime) or 21 GMT (wintertime). Sydney forex session opens at 18 EST (springtime) or 17 EST (winter time).
Now let us see when Sydney markets close:
What time does the Sydney session close?
Sydney forex session closes at 6 GMT (springtime) or 7 GMT (wintertime). Sydney forex session closes at 2 EST (springtime) or 1 EST (wintertime).
Tokyo trading session
What time does the Tokyo session open?
Tokyo forex session opens at 23 GMT or 19 EST.
What time does the Tokyo session close?
Tokyo forex session closes at 7 GMT or 3 EST.
Tokyo session time is from 23-7 GMT or 19-3 EST.
London trading session
What time does the London session open?
London forex session opens at 7 GMT (springtime) or 8 GMT (wintertime). London forex session opens at 3EST (springtime) or 4EST (winter time).
What time does the London session close?
London forex session closes at 15 GMT (springtime) or 16 GMT (wintertime). London forex session closes at 11 EST (springtime) or 12 EST (wintertime).
To sum up:
London session time is from 7-15 GMT during spring or 8-16 GMT during winter. London session time is from 3-11 EST during spring or 4-12 EST during winter.
New York trading session
What time does the New York session open?
New York forex session opens at 12 GMT (springtime) or 13 GMT (wintertime). London forex session opens at 8 EST (springtime) or 9 EST (wintertime).
What time does the New York session close?
New York forex session closes at 20 GMT (springtime) or 21 GMT (wintertime). London forex session closes at 16 EST (springtime) or 17 EST (wintertime).
To sum up:
New York session time is from 12-20 GMT during spring or 13-21 GMT during winter. The New York session time is from 8-16 EST during spring or 9-17 EST during winter.
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What time is the Asian trading session?
Asian forex time is a trading session between 23 and 8 GMT or 19 and 4 EST. Asian session overlaps with the Tokyo forex session; in Japanese, this session occurs from 9 to 18 JST.
See major forex market hours – forex trading session times Table:
| Time Zone forex.in.rs | EST Spring | EST Winter | GMT Spring | GMT Winter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney Open | 6 PM | 5 PM | 10 PM | 09 PM |
| Sydney close | 2 AM | 1 AM | 06 AM | 07 AM |
| Tokyo Open | 7 PM | 7 PM | 11 PM | 11 PM |
| Tokyo close | 3 AM | 3 AM | 7 AM | 7 AM |
| London Open | 3 AM | 4 AM | 7 AM | 8 AM |
| London close | 11 AM | 12 AM | 3 PM | 4 PM |
| New York Open | 8 AM | 9 AM | 12 PM | 13 PM |
| New York Close | 4 PM | 5 PM | 8 PM | 9 PM |
Best Times for Trading in Forex
The Most Profitable Trading Hours in the Forex Market are usually in periods of high volatility for trend trading strategies, such as when European and USA market trading sessions overlap.
For most forex traders, the best time to trade is the four hours when the London and New York exchanges are open from 8 am to 12 noon (EST). More than half the forex trades take place at these exchanges. On the other hand, around 18 (EST), most of the trading occurs at the Sydney, and Singapore exchanges, which have a far lower trading volume. The expected trading volume assumes that no news will affect the forex market. However, suppose there is a military or political crisis. In that case, there may be an increase in trading volume and volatility even when the market is usually slow so that forex traders can profit.
Many traders new to foreign exchange (forex) trading spend much time researching. Unlike the stock markets open only during business hours, the forex market is always available so first-time traders will work long hours. However, this can use up the trader’s savings and leave the trader mentally drained. Hence the trader should understand the timings of the forex markets worldwide and plan their schedule accordingly to get the best results working reasonable hours. The Best Times to Trade the Forex Markets are discussed below.
Unlike stock markets, the forex market worldwide is linked and is open from Sunday at 5 pm EST to Friday at 5 pm. Therefore, if two or more major forex markets are open, the trading volumes will increase, and the currency pairs will likely fluctuate. If only one market is open, the spread for the currency pairs is limited to 30 pips. However, when two or more markets are open, the forex spread may be more than 70 pips, especially when major news related to the economy is released.
What time is the forex market most active?
The most active trading hours are from 8 a.m. to 12 a.m. EST when the New York and London forex markets are open. Forex liquidity and volatility will likely be high at this time because the US dollar market share is around 88% by the turnover value. However, important market news can change the market activity period, and the price of a currency pair can dramatically go up or down at that moment.
During Sydney and Toky forex sessions,s forex trading volumes are lower since these are smaller markets.
Research about Best Times for trading forex by Dailyfx.com
Experts from Dailyfx.com have analyzed over twelve million trades conducted by significant foreign exchange(forex) traders to find trends. It was noticed that the profit or loss of these traders depended mainly on the day’s time. Most of these traders are called Range traders since their profit depends on market conditions to a large extent. The strategies for range trading involve buying low and selling high. Unfortunately, many traders make a loss because they choose the wrong time for trading. Hence many traders would like to find out When is the Best Time of Day to Trade Forex? So that they can plan their schedule accordingly and make a profit.
https://www.dailyfx.com/forex/technical/article/special_report/2011/12/12/When_is_the_Best_Time_of_Day_to_Trade_Forex.html
Thousands of forex trades were analyzed to find trends in the forex traders’ profits for five of the most popular currency pairs. While there are some daily fluctuations observed, it is found that the trends are pretty stable. Furthermore, it is found that traders are most likely to profit when forex/currency rates are less volatile. This is usually during the Asian, late US, or early European forex trading sessions. While the range trading strategy is effective when the forex rate fluctuates less, the trader will lose more volatility.
The Best forex session to trade
After a lot of research, experts have noticed that to make a profit, European currencies should be traded when major markets are closed, using a strategy for range trading. This corresponds to trading between 23 to 8 GMT (19 – 4 EST). Hence the trade filters should be set accordingly. However, the same strategy is ineffective when the Euro currencies are volatile during peak trading hours. Making a profit Range trading in Asia-Pacific currencies is more difficult since the periods when currency rates are highly volatile and less volatile are less clearly defined than European currencies.
The best arbitrage opportunity is evidenced on Fridays (learn more about arbitrage in our article)when selling USD and buying EUR at 00:00 and selling EUR and buying USD at 03:00 on the same day.
Overlaps in timings for forex markets
Since the price range in forex markets is higher when more than one market is open, there are more opportunities.
How news affects the Forex market
Major news can increase trade volumes when few traders are active. If the news drastically differs from what is predicted, the currency value can fluctuate significantly in a few seconds. New economy-related information affects currency rates worldwide; however, only a few news types are relevant for forex traders. This news is interesting rate-related policy decisions, trade deficits, consumer consumption and confidence, CPI data, central bank meetings, GDP data, Unemployment rates, and retail trade-related information.
Conclusion
Forex traders should consider the overlap in market timings and economic news while deciding their trading schedule so that they have enough time to rest and do other activities. Reading science research papers about this topic, there is no 100% rule about the best trading time for the forex market,t but based on Dailyfx research, the most profitable hours are low volatility hours.
He is an expert in financial niche, long-term trading, and weekly technical levels.
The primary field of Igor's research is the application of machine learning in algorithmic trading.
Education: Computer Engineering and Ph.D. in machine learning.
Igor regularly publishes trading-related videos on the Fxigor Youtube channel.
To contact Igor write on:
igor@forex.in.rs
