Time zones
When each session opens, where the sessions overlap, and why the hour you trade changes how a pair behaves.
A market that follows the sun
The foreign exchange market operates 24 hours a day, five days a week, spread across the world's time zones. That lets you take part at any hour, wherever you are, but it is not the same market at every hour. Trading moves from one financial center to the next, and each center has its own volume and its own character.
The four sessions
Wellington and Sydney open first. Wellington, New Zealand opens at 8:00 AM local time, which is 20:00 GMT the previous day, and Sydney opens at 10:00 AM local time, 00:00 GMT. Together they make up the Asian-Pacific session.
Tokyo opens at 9:00 AM local time, 00:00 GMT, and overlaps with Sydney for an hour. The Asian-Pacific session is the quietest of the sessions.
London opens at 8:00 AM local time, 08:00 GMT, and is the largest session by volume. It overlaps with the end of the Asian-Pacific session, which brings a step up in liquidity.
New York opens at 8:00 AM local time, 13:00 GMT, and is the second-largest session by volume. It overlaps with London, and that overlap is where the early hours of the U.S. day get their volatility.
The best times to trade
The London and New York overlap, from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM GMT, is the most active stretch of the day. Volatility and liquidity both peak, which is what most strategies need.
The hour after London opens, while Tokyo is still trading, is the most active window of the Asian-Pacific day.
Sydney and Tokyo overlap in the first hour of the Tokyo day, which gives the Asian-Pacific region its liquidity.
Clocks in each country shift with daylight saving, so the GMT hours above move by an hour part of the year.
Not every pair keeps the same hours
While the market is open around the clock, not all currency pairs are equally active through the day. Some are busiest during the Asian session, others during the European or North American sessions. Take that into account when choosing which pairs to trade and when to enter and exit.
In your own time zone
Every trade you log is stamped with the session it was opened in, so you can see which session your results come from. The economic calendar shows each release in your own time zone, so you know when the hour that moves your pair is about to arrive.
the Calendar
Watch it inside your own account
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