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The Forex market is the exchange that is active the whole working week. In this article, I will discuss forex opening times for different world countries. We will use Eastern Standard Time (EST) and Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) as the standard time zones.
What Time Does the Forex Market Open on Sunday?
Forex market opens at 5 pm EST on Sunday (10 pm GMT) wintertime. The exact time to start trading depends on the broker and the international time zone to which the broker belongs. The forex market is open 24 hours a day, during working days, in different parts of the world, from 5 pm EST (10 pm GMT) on Sunday until 4 pm EST (9 pm GMT) on Friday during wintertime. The forex market opens on Sunday at 4 pm EST (21 GMT) and closes on Friday at 4 pm EST (21 GMT) during Summer Time (daylight saving time).
A weekend price gap occurs because there is often a difference in price between Friday’s close and Sunday’s opening.
In the forex trading industry, traders trade using brokers. The brokers’ working time is significant when discussing open and close times for the forex market. The most significant Metatrader brokers are in Europe, the USA, Australia, and other countries. If you are a Metatrader platform trader, knowing the trading times for a particular broker is excellent.
Forex Market Operational Hours:
- General Overview:
- The Forex market essentially functions around the clock, five days a week. It caters to traders worldwide by opening and closing at different times across major financial centers.
- Opening Time in Winter:
- The market opens at 5 pm EST on Sundays at 10 pm GMT. This timing is for the wintertime.
- Broker Dependency:
- It’s important to note that the exact starting time for trading isn’t universally standardized. It heavily depends on the broker’s location and the international time zone in which the broker operates. Different brokers might have slightly varying operational hours, even if it’s just a matter of a few minutes or an hour.
- Continuous Operation:
- Once the market opens, it remains operational 24 hours a day on working days. So, after the 5 p.m. EST opening on Sunday (wintertime), it doesn’t close until 4 p.m. EST on Friday, which translates to 9 p.m. GMT. This ensures that as one significant financial market closes, another in a different part of the world opens, allowing for continuous trading opportunities.
- Daylight Saving Time Adjustment:
- During Summer Time, or what’s commonly known as Daylight Saving Time in many regions, the Forex market’s operational timings shift. Instead of the wintertime 5 pm EST opening on Sundays, it opens an hour earlier at 4 pm EST (which remains 9 pm GMT). However, the closing time on Fridays remains consistent at 4 pm EST or 9 pm GMT.
Read more: When does Forex Market Close on Friday? in our article.
Every working day, the trading session can be divided (Eastern Standard Time):
- New York: 8:00 am to 5:00 pm EST
- Tokyo: 7:00 pm to 4:00 am EST
- Sydney: 5:00 pm to 2:00 am EST
- London: 3:00 am to 12:00 pm EST
Here are a few examples of forex market open and forex market close for major world brokers:
Alpari trading hours
Alpari broker’s working hours during the wintertime are from Sunday 5 pm EST (10 pm GMT) till Friday 4.54 pm EST (9.54 pm GMT).
Forex trading hours for Alpari forex broker are:
- From March to October: from 00:05 (GMT+3) on Monday to 23:54:59 (GMT+3) on Friday.
- From October to March: from 01:05 (GMT+3) on Monday to 00:54:59 (GMT+3) on Saturday.
HF markets trading hours
HF Markets working hours or Hotforex broker trading hours during the wintertime are from 5 pm EST (10 pm GMT) on Sunday until 5 pm EST (10 pm GMT) on Friday.
The open trading hours of the HotForex Metatrader Platform are between Monday 00:00:51 and Friday 23:59:59 Server time. Please note that Server Time is subject to Daylight Saving Time (DST), which begins on the last Sunday of March and ends on the last Sunday of October. Server Times are for Winter: GMT+2, Summer: GMT+3 (DST).
XM Trading Hours
XM trading hours are between Sunday 5.05 pm EST (10.05 pm GMT) and Friday 4.50 pm EST (9.50 pm GMT).
Oanda Trading Hours
Oanda US forex broker trading hours during the wintertime are from 5 pm EST (10 pm GMT) on Sunday until 5 pm EST (10 pm GMT) on Friday.
FXCM US Forex Broker Trading Hours
- Open Sundays between 5:00 and 5:15 pm EST.
- Close: Fridays, around 4:55 pm EST
- Closed: Fridays 5:00 pm to Sunday 5:00 pm EST
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.
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