Forex Times
In contrast with exchanges there is no such thing as a “trading time” in the Forex market. The market does not close for lunch or go to bed. Forex is a 24 hours market operating five days a week. Rather than single trading days, there are weekly trading sessions. A session starts at 11:00 p.m. (GMT) on Sunday in Tokyo and ends at 10:00 p.m. on Friday in Chicago.
The Forex market can be separated into parts: Australian, Asian, European and American. On working days a session consecutively passes from one financial center to the other by the following trajectory: Wellington (New Zealand), Sydney (Australia), Tokyo (Japan), Hong-Kong (China), Singapore, Frankfurt (Germany), Zurich (Switzerland), London (Great Britain), New York, Chicago and Los Angeles (USA).
Trading activity in the related currencies increases as the market moves through the time zones and financial centers. For instance, when the working day is in full fluctuate in Sydney the most actively traded currency pairs are going to be the EUR/AUD and USD/AUD, whereas when the session reaches Tokyo the most active ones are for the JPY and so on. The most active general is the American session. By its beginning most of the important financial news connected with fundamental economic activities has been released. Some banks get out of the general trading process because of national holidays which are usually holidays for banks too.
Generally, nevertheless, because of differences between time zones there is always at least one or more active financial institutions (by turn or at the same time) that make Forex a 24-hour market. Even on the
1st of January trading continues because the banks in Muslim countries are still open. In fact, the market is also open on the weekends but the trading activity is so weak that it is very hard for a broker to find a partner (contractor) for the deal. Apparently this isn’t a problem during week days.
Written by FxErvin
The Forex market can be separated into parts: Australian, Asian, European and American. On working days a session consecutively passes from one financial center to the other by the following trajectory: Wellington (New Zealand), Sydney (Australia), Tokyo (Japan), Hong-Kong (China), Singapore, Frankfurt (Germany), Zurich (Switzerland), London (Great Britain), New York, Chicago and Los Angeles (USA).
Trading activity in the related currencies increases as the market moves through the time zones and financial centers. For instance, when the working day is in full fluctuate in Sydney the most actively traded currency pairs are going to be the EUR/AUD and USD/AUD, whereas when the session reaches Tokyo the most active ones are for the JPY and so on. The most active general is the American session. By its beginning most of the important financial news connected with fundamental economic activities has been released. Some banks get out of the general trading process because of national holidays which are usually holidays for banks too.
Generally, nevertheless, because of differences between time zones there is always at least one or more active financial institutions (by turn or at the same time) that make Forex a 24-hour market. Even on the
1st of January trading continues because the banks in Muslim countries are still open. In fact, the market is also open on the weekends but the trading activity is so weak that it is very hard for a broker to find a partner (contractor) for the deal. Apparently this isn’t a problem during week days.
Written by FxErvin