Forex Market Hours

One of the key features of the Forex market is the opportunity to trade around-the-clock, 24 hours a day.  As an international market that has no central market location there are forex traders constantly available in all time zones, at all times, who are ready to immediately execute a trade and thus enable you to enter or exit the market.  The forex market is divided into four regional trading sessions: Asian, European, American and the Pacific.  Each market session has its own trading period and unique characteristics.  You should be aware of these differences as they can be critical to your trading performance.

• Asian session: During this session, the most active trades are in the pairs of Dollar/Yen, Dollar/Euro, Euro/Yen and Dollar/Australian Dollar. The most common Asian session is characterized by relative calm with the exception of any currency interventions by the central bank of Japan;
• European session: The beginning of the session starts at the opening of the market at 7:00 GMT in the European financial centers: Zurich, Frankfurt, Paris and Luxembourg. The most dramatic fluctuations in the major pairs begin after the opening of the London market, which usually lasts for 2-3 hours, after which the dealers of European banks go to lunch and there is reduced market activity.
• American session: The next revival of the forex market begins at the opening of the market in New York at 13:00 GMT. At 17:00 GMT the European market closes and the U.S. financial system remain the only active market. This heavily affects the rate of the dollar to other currencies.
• Pacific session: It is considered very quiet on the international currency market.

Knowing the characteristics of each forex trading session makes it easier for you to plan your actions in the market and build your own strategies or techniques.