What hours should you be ready for Trading?

by John Arnold
(UK)

As important it is to know how to trade, it is more important to know when to trade in terms of the forex market timing. Forex market is a worldwide online market with no time limits when you consider the whole world as your base. The markets are active through the week except for a Saturday giving you five and a half trading days every week; taking into consideration the time zones. You can trade anytime in any market! But, to maximize the yield of the trade, the hours you decide to trade do matter.

You should focus on trading when you can make the highest profit, which is when the activity and the volume of transactions are the highest. The first point to understand is that there is no day or night for the forex market, it is an online market which begins in one country and ends in another. When it is night here, it is day somewhere else, the forex market is open there. That would mean at any given point of time, someone somewhere in this world is transacting in the forex market.

Another point to consider is that the business markets between countries do coincide; this is when there is an increase in activity and volume of transactions. The forex market starts in New Zealand on a Sunday then the forex markets begins its journey of activity through Australia, Asia, Middle East, Europe throughout the week to end in US on a Friday evening. There are time periods when the European especially United Kingdom and United States forex markets coincide. These are the peak time frames with maximum movement, volume and opportunities. The United Kingdom and United States forex market constitute 50% of all forex transactions there.

The major forex markets around the world are London, New York and Tokyo. The major chunk; nearly two-thirds of trading happens in the hours when the US and UK forex markets overlap. This answers the actual question that was being asked “What are the hours that you should be trading?

There are two time periods when the major forex markets around the world overlap, one is between 2.00 to 4.00a.m EST ( i.e. Asia or European ) and between 8.00a.m to 12.00p.m EST( North American or European ). These are the best period to actually trade in the forex market. In United States, taking into consideration the time zone, the best time to do business would be early morning or late at night to be precise. You can always do trade wherever you are in the world, by just calculating the differences in time zones.

So remember you can always do business any time, literally anywhere. You now know the best hours to trade but you can always buy or sell at any other time.

As they say, the world is your playground especially when it comes to the forex market. No other market gives you that kind of freedom or leverage with time and place.

NB : Integratefx.com is no longer operating.

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