What Are The Major Forex Market Sessions?
Global currency markets comprise banks (including central banks), hedge funds, commercial companies, retail forex investors and brokers, as well as investment management firms.
So, instead of involving a single market exchange, the international currency market is dominated by a global network of brokers and exchanges.
While the forex market stays closed on weekends, it runs round-the-clock during the rest of the week. This constant trading is possible only because the market operates in multiple time zones.
To be more specific, the forex market consists of the following forex sessions:
- The Pacific session, which starts with the Sydney session
- The Tokyo session, that begins the Asian trading session
- The London session
- The New York session
Accounting for almost 75% of the daily forex volume, these are considered the largest trading centers.
What are the forex market opening times?
The forex market trading hours depend on the time at which trading is open in each participating country.
The time zones keep overlapping, but there is a universally accepted forex time zone for each major trading region:
- Sydney Session:
- Local Time: 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM
- EST: 5:00 PM to 2:00 AM
- UTC: 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM
- Tokyo Session:
- Local Time: 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM
- EST: 7:00 PM to 4:00 AM
- UTC: 12:00 AM to 9:00 AM
- London Session:
- Local Time: 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM
- EST: 3:00 AM to 11:00 AM
- UTC: 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM
- New York Session:
- Local Time: 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
- EST: 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
- UTC: 1:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Please bear in mind that the time of the year when you’re trading will also affect forex session times, including the opening and closing times, since countries shifting to and from the Daylight Savings Time (DST) will change forex market hours in October, November, March, and April.
When is the best time to trade currencies?
The best time to trade forex is when the market is the busiest, or the most active. At this time, you’ll get a sporting chance to execute a trade at the levels you want, with the narrowest spreads.
The market is at its peak hours when there’s an increase in the number of traders buying and selling currencies, as this is when the forex market hours overlap between the major forex market sessions we’ve outlined before.
Let’s take a look at the overlap windows for exchanges:
- Sydney and Tokyo Overlap:
- 12:00 AM to 7:00 AM (GMT)
- 8:00 PM to 3:00 AM (EST)
- Tokyo and London Overlap:
- 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM (GMT) (adjusted by 1 hour earlier)
- 3:00 AM to 4:00 AM (EST)
- London and New York Overlap (Busiest Period):
- 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM (GMT)
- 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM (EST)
The last of these windows, between London and New York, is considered the busiest period when the majority volume of trades are executed.
Currency pairs and forex trading sessions
The best time for you to trade in the forex market would also depend on the currency pair you’ve set your sights on. In general, each currency pair will represent the most liquidity when there are overlapping forex market sessions for the pair, i.e. when both the sessions are open at the same time.
GBP/USD, for instance, will experience a higher trading volume when both of the New York and London sessions are open. In the same way, AUDJ/PY will show the most movement when the Sydney, as well as the Tokyo sessions, are open.
Here’s an overview of the major currency pairs traded in each of the major forex trading sessions:
- Pacific session- AUD/USD, NZD/USD, AUD/JPY
- Tokyo session- USD/JPY, EUR/JPY, GBP/JPY, AUD/JPY
- London session- EUR/USD, USD/CAD, GBP/USD, EUR/GBP
- New York session- USD/CAD, GBP/USD, EUR/USD (usually the same as in the London session)
Want to continue learning?
Now that you know about the forex trading hours and the forex sessions, you can learn more about other aspects of forex trading through our educational guides.
