More Activity, More Possibilities
The forex market is open 24 hours a day, and it is important to know when the most active trading periods are. For instance, if we take a less active period between 5 pm – 7 pm EST, after New York closes and before Tokyo opens, Sydney will be open for trading but with more modest activity than the three major sessions (London, US, Tokyo). Consequently, less activity means less financial opportunity. If you want to trade currency pairs like EUR/USD, GBP/USD or USD/CHF, you will find more activity between 8 am – 12 am when both Europe and the United States are active.
Trading Sessions
For day traders, the most productive hours are between the opening of the London markets at 08:00 GMT and the closing of the US markets at 22:00 GMT. The peak time for trading is when the US and London markets overlap between 1 pm GMT – 4 pm GMT. The main sessions of the day are the London, US and Asian markets. Following is a brief overview of trading sessions that will help you make the most of the market:
- LONDON SESSION – open between 8 am GMT – 5 pm GMT; EUR, GBP, USD are the most active currencies;
- US SESSION – open between 1 pm GMT – 10 pm GMT; USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, JPY are the most active currencies;
- ASIAN SESSION – opens at about 10 pm GMT on Sunday afternoon, goes into the European trading session at about 9 am GMT; not very suitable for day trading.
