What are forex trading hours and how do they affect the forex market?

Forex trading hours refer to the 24-hour schedule in which the forex market operates from Monday to Friday. Because currencies are traded globally, the market never sleeps, when one region’s financial centers close, another region’s centers open. These continuous market hours create high liquidity and allow traders to trade forex at almost any moment. Understanding forex trading hours helps traders identify periods of higher volatility, tighter spreads, and more efficient trade executions.

When does the forex market open, and what are the main forex trading sessions?

The forex market open occurs every Monday in the Asia-Pacific region, beginning with the Sydney session. The main forex trading sessions include: * Sydney Session * Tokyo Session * London Session * New York Session Together, these form the global forex market sessions, each with unique characteristics. The most active periods occur when sessions overlap, especially London-New York, where a large portion of daily trading volume takes place.

What is the best time to trade forex based on market hours and volatility?

The best time to trade forex depends on your strategy and the currency pair you’re targeting. Generally, the most volatile and liquid times occur during major session overlaps: * Tokyo-London overlap (moderate volatility) * London-New York overlap (highest volatility and liquidity) These periods often offer tighter spreads and faster execution. Traders focusing on major forex market pairs (such as EUR/USD or GBP/USD) typically favor the London-New York window for optimal price movement.

How do daylight savings changes affect forex trading hours?

Daylight savings adjustments can shift forex market hours depending on the region. Because not all countries change clocks on the same dates, or at all, the opening and closing times of major sessions may temporarily move by one hour. Traders should stay aware of these changes to avoid confusion and ensure accurate timing for market overlaps and trading strategies.

Can I trade forex 24/5 on 24Markets.com, and what should I know about different currency pairs and trading hours?

Yes, on [24Markets.com](http://24Markets.com), traders can access and trade 50+ CFD forex pairs throughout the global forex trading week. While the market is open 24/5, each currency pair behaves differently depending on which markets open at that time. For example, JPY pairs are more active during Asian hours, whereas USD and EUR pairs often see peak movement during the London and New York sessions. Understanding these time-dependent dynamics helps traders match their strategies to the most favorable trading hours.

How Forex Trading Hours Work: Overlapping Sessions, Volatility & Trading 50+ CFD Forex Pairs

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Intermediate

The foreign exchange market happens to be the largest financial market in the world, known for being ridiculously decentralized. It stretches across multiple time zones and lets you trade continuously, pretty much 7 days a week. With key financial hubs in Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York, the way the market's structured allows major trading sessions to overlap, resulting in a significant spike in trading volume and liquidity. We're talking particularly about the overlap between London and New York which accounts for over half of all daily turnover.

Forex traders need to get their head around this layout by lining up their risk management strategy with session-specific quirks.

Why Forex Markets Trade 24/5

Forex market trading hours go on for 24 hours a day and 5 days a week because of how all these different markets are connected all over the world. When one market closes, the next one opens, making sure there's no downtime except on weekends. The reason for this constant activity is because big corporations, central banks and institutional investors are always on the lookout for currency pairs to hedge against and make bets on, resulting in over $7.5 trillion in daily transactions as of 2025.

We don't trade on weekends because there's less participation and the risk of low liquidity, but even on the five-day cycle, there's plenty of trading opportunities available. Traders use tools hosted on platforms like 24Markets.com to keep an eye on these transitions and avoid getting caught out by bad liquidity and bigger spreads.

Key Factors That Influence Forex Trading Hours

There are a few key things that affect how the forex market operates, such as geopolitics, economic data, and seasonal adjustments like daylight savings that can shift the timings for some regions by an hour. Trading hours change depending on holidays too. Think Japan's Golden Week or U.S Thanksgiving, which slows things down a bit and makes spreads a bit wider in less active markets.

On top of all that, there's the fact that different people have their own local time preferences and there's this big push for global standardisation through GMT London. All these things combine to make markets pretty liquid, especially during the 4 main trading sessions.

Major Forex Market Trading Hours by Region

The main trading hours for each region pretty much mirror the rhythms of their hubs.

In Sydney, trading goes from 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM UTC, followed by Tokyo from 12:00 AM to 9:00 AM UTC, London from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM UTC and New York from 1:00 PM to 10:00 PM UTC.

These times make sure the market gets going in the Asia Pacific and just keeps rolling until the end of the day, by which time we're in the European and American sessions. The thing is, each region has its own specialties too, like London dominating euro trades or New York being all about dollar pairs.

Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York Session Breakdown

The Sydney session is a relatively quiet one, but when it's on, it's on for 22 hours in local time and the focus is very much on AUD and NZD pairs. Trading is usually pretty moderate, from 10:00 PM UTC on Sunday to 7:00 AM on Monday, with the odd tighter spread here and there. Tokyo is a bit busier, with a lot of yen-centric activity around 3:00 AM UTC, though Japanese yen pairs can get pretty volatile with Bank of Japan announcements.

London, on the other hand, really ramps up the volume with 1/3 to 5 of the daily total from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM UTC. So you'll see a lot of GBP and EUR flows here. The New York session is pretty much the climax of the whole market, with U.S data releases creating all sorts of drama.

Here are some session specifics to keep in mind:

Sydney Session: Its all about commodity-linked currencies with low volatility, making it a good spot for range-bound strategies, especially in the early week.
Tokyo Session: This is when the yen really comes into its own, with all sorts of cross pairs like USD/JPY moving up to 50-70 pips on average on news events.
London Session: You can expect 30 percent of the global volume to pass through here with EUR/GBP averaging 80 pips a day as the ECB weighs in.
New York Session: USD pairs are the name of the game with overlaps pushing GBP/USD volatility to over 100 pips in the high-impact hours.

How Overlapping Forex Trading Hours Increase Volatility

Overlapping sessions lead to a mad scramble for currencies, which in turn causes the price to start doing its own thing. This is especially true for the big overlaps like London and New York, where we see these huge spikes in trading volume and liquidity, followed by, of course, some pretty wild price swings. The trick, as we always say, is to time your trades to catch the best of these overlaps and limit your risk.

Overlapping forex trading hours, particularly the London and New York window from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm UTC, are a recipe for disaster, creating a perfect storm of volatility by merging European liquidity with American capital flows. You get rapid price swings of 1-2 percent on major pairs within minutes.

That surge is all down to heightened participation where both London and New York markets are open at the same time, which amplifies reactions to shared news such as a US non-farm payrolls. This ripples across to GBP/USD and EUR/USD. As a result, high volatility periods like these offer traders an advantage with bigger pip movements, but they demand robust risk management strategy to counter those sudden reversals in the financial situation.

Best Times to Trade Based on Forex Market Sessions

The best times to trade based on forex market sessions are the ones that align with your strategy and pair selection. That generally means the 8:00 am to 12:00 pm London open for European momentum or the 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm London-New York overlap for peak efficiency.

During these windows, you get higher trading volumes which reduces spreads to as low as 0.5 pips on majors, making it much easier for scalpers to snag 10-20 pip profits. For directional biases, prioritise new week openings around 10:00 pm Sunday and avoid the post-New York close lull from 10:00 pm to 12:00 am when liquidity dips and costs rise.

The best windows to tap into include:

Tokyo-London Overlap (3:00 am - 4:00 am UTC): a bit of a moderate volatility suit JPY crosses with 40-60 pip ranges.
London-New York Overlap (1:00 pm - 5:00 pm UTC): highest activity for USD pairs, averaging 120 pips on EUR/USD.
Solo Sessions: use for news trades like Tokyo's BOJ events, which can yield 80 pips on USD/JPY.

Identifying High-Activity Windows for Specific Currency Pairs

Identifying high-activity windows for specific currency pairs involves mapping pair compositions to session strengths.

For example AUD/USD thrives in Sydney's 10:00 pm-2:00 am when commodity data is released and the pair sees 50 pips of movement.

EUR/USD peaks during London and New York, from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm UTC, where overlaps drive 100+ pip days amid ECB-Fed divergences.

For JPY pairs, Tokyo's 12:00 am-9:00 am offers the bulk of volume.

And for GBP/JPY, London-Tokyo crossovers can create the perfect storm of volume surges, allowing traders to exploit large volume surges in these targeted periods for precise entries.

Daylight Savings Time and Its Impact on Forex Market Trading Hours

Daylight Savings Time impacts forex market trading hours by shifting session starts and ends by one hour for regions like the U.S. and Europe. So, from March to November, the Sydney session's 10:00 pm UTC open can get misaligned with local clocks. In 2025, for example, U.S. DST starts on March 9 and ends on November 2.

That means New York timings get shifted, affecting overlap durations. GMT Sydney and GMT Frankfurt, however, remain unaffected as non-DST anchors, but you'll need to recalculate charts to maintain accuracy in trading hours 13/2-5 extensions during transitions.

Adjusting Your Strategy During Seasonal Time Changes

Adjusting your strategy when dealing with seasonal time changes requires a bit of planning. First, you need to check for DST announcements to make sure you're on top of any changes. After that, you'll need to reprogram alerts to reflect shifted forex market open times. Finally, test back-adjusted data for pairs like EUR/USD that see altered volatility profiles.

The post-DST US shifts can extend effective New York hours by 60 minutes locally, boosting trading opportunities in late sessions. However, it can also risk fatigue for non-US traders. Incorporating buffers like wider stops during these weeks can help to mitigate confusion and ensure strategies adapt seamlessly to the evolving financial markets without disrupting risk management strategy.

Trading +50 CFD Forex Pairs on 24Markets.com

Trading plus 50 CFD forex pairs on 24Markets.com gives you access to majors, minors and exotics like USD/TRY or AUD/CAD. And it all happens within the platform's 24/5 framework that mirrors global forex trading sessions for real-time quotes. With leverage up to 1:500 and spreads from 0.0 pips on EUR/USD during peak times, users benefit from tools tracking major currency pairs' behaviours across Sydney to New York.

This breadth enables diversified portfolios where traders can pair JPY crosses with London volume for hedged plays. And the platform's API supports automated entries during high-activity overlaps.

How 24Markets.com Supports Multi-Session Forex Trading

24Markets.com does its part in supporting multi-session forex trading by providing access to a wide array of currency pairs, tools and leverages that help you trade across multiple sessions with ease. And with our dedicated platform and 24/5 framework, you get real-time quotes and market updates that factor in global forex trading sessions.24Markets.com lets you trade multiple forex sessions in a single platform and you can personalise the way you see it all with customisable dashboards showing the four main trading sessions in either GMT London or your own local time.

They also give you alerts for when there are overlaps between sessions and when the prices are going to jump, all thanks to their built-in economic calendar. And to make your life a bit easier, they've got some nifty features like one click trading for pairs that tend to surge in Tokyo's markets or overflow when New York's data is released.

Plus, they run regular webinars to help you avoid getting caught out by the quiet Asian trading sessions at the end of the day. They also hand you a free VPS hosting to go with that, which cuts down the lag and lets you get in on tighter spreads and bigger volumes, all without being tied down to any one location.