Forex Trading Hours - 24 Hours 5 Days A Week

By Steve Maenshel

Forex trading hours are the hours when the foreign currency exchange market is open. Even though it may seem that Forex market is always open (it's true in a way), some hours are better for trades, while other hours may actually do more harm than good. Forex trading hours are 24 hours a day, 5 days a week, except for the national holidays. Forex trading hours vary from country to country, according to the hours when main financial institutions of that particular country start and end their business day.

Basically, there are four major zones with various Forex trading hours: Europe, USA, Australia and Asia. Forex opens in Tokyo at 23.00 GMT on Sunday and then in 5 days it closes on Friday at 10 PM in Chicago, thus ending the so-called Forex trading week.

Forex market does not stop its work even during the biggest holidays, because there will always be a region on Earth, which does not considered that day a holiday. The best examples are the opposing Christian and Muslim holidays. When a holiday starts in the Christian regions of the planet, you may simply concentrate your Forex trading hours on the financial centers of the Muslim countries, and vice versa. Even during the "global" holidays, currency trading usually does not just stop. For example, during the Catholic Christmas, you can still get the currency quotes from Muslim countries and other Asian countries banks.

Small volume of traded currencies (often referred to as thin) also occurs at the Forex market on the weekends, but the weekends spent trading at the Forex market, may not result in anything profitable, since it is very difficult to find a good contractor on the weekends, and it's even harder to find a good price.

Forex trading hours vary all over the world, making Forex market a colorful mixture of countries and currencies, including US Dollars, Canadian Dollars, Australian Dollars, Euro, Yens, Pounds etc. Thus you will be able to trade with any currency at the foreign exchange market.

Why were Forex trading hours established? Why cant the market be open 24/7 without holidays? Forex trading hours are also needed for employees to carry out certain necessary operations to maintain order at the market, as well as for the traders to simply get some "rest".

The residents of different countries can be surprised that Forex trading hours start and end deep at night in their countries, however you should realize that the foreign exchange market works in different time zones, and thus while in some country Forex might seem to work "at night", in other countries Forex trading hours match regular working hours.

Forex trading hours in the main 4 timezones

Forex trading hours of various countries overlap one another, together totaling 24 hours each day for 5 days in the row. Thinner trades are also carried out on the weekends. Please take a look at the 4 main time-zones of the Forex trading hours (EST):

Tokyo, Trading Hours: 19.00 to 04.00 EST

New York, Trading Hours: 08.00 to 17.00 EST

London, Trading Hours: 03.00 to 12.00 (noon) EST

Sydney Trading Hours: 17.00 to 02.00

Forex trading hours are important for the best trading results. Forex market will become somewhat different depending on the Forex trading hours that you will choose for your trades. - 23204

About the Author:

Author Steve Maenshel can help you take advantage of the forex trading hours. For more forex trading information, visit his forex resource center.