Timings of the Forex market
Let us try to understand the timings of the Forex market. As this is international market, for a user the timings differ from different time zone. Still, the market is open 24 hrs. a day on weekdays except weekends and national holidays.
The Forex market is open around the clock 5 days a week (except for national holidays, which are bank holidays), since there are institutions in every time zone that buy and sell currency during their working day. Therefore, there is in fact no day trading session on the forex market, and there is a one-week session. Weekly trading session in the Forex market opens at 23:00 GMT (GMT) on Sunday in Tokyo, and closes at 22:00 on Friday in Chicago.
Quite conventional in Forex are four regional markets: Australia, Asia, Europe, America.
In the working days of Forex is moving consistently in the following financial centers: New Zealand (Wellington) – Australia (Sydney) – Japan (Tokyo) – China (Hong Kong) – Singapore (Singapore) – Germany (Frankfurt-on-Main) and Switzerland (Zurich) – United Kingdom (London ) – the USA (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles).
Trading sessions on interbank sites work on the following time slices (opening and closing is indicated by MSK “summer time”):
| Region | City | Opening of the session | Closing of the session | Difference from GMT (Greenwich) | The difference from MSK (Moscow) |
| Australia and Oceania | Wellington (New Zealand) | 00:00 | 8:00 AM | -eleven | -8 |
| Sydney, Australia) | 01:00 | 09:00 | -9 | -6 | |
| Asian session | Tokyo, Japan) | 04:00 | 1:00 pm | -9 | -6 |
| Hong Kong, China | 05:00 | 14:00 | -8 | -5 | |
| Singapore (Singapore) | 05:00 | 14:00 | -7 | -4 | |
| European session | Funkfurt am Main (Germany) | 10am | 8pm | +1 | +2 |
| Zurich (Switzerland) | 10am | 8pm | +1 | +2 | |
| Paris, France) | 10am | 9pm | +1 | +2 | |
| London, Great Britain) | 11:00 | 8pm | +1 | +3 | |
| American Session | New York, USA) | 4pm | 02:00 | 5 | +8 |
| Chicago (USA) | 5pm | 03:00 | +6 | +9 | |
| Los Angeles, USA) | 8pm | 05:00 | +8 | +11 |
In fact, trade does not stop even during holidays, which are almost universal. So during the New Year, trade can be conducted by banks of Muslim countries, in which January 1 is not an official banking weekend.
Unofficially, the market works even on weekends, but on holidays and weekend output in the market is so small (thin) that it is difficult to find a good counterparty at a good price. In addition, although the quotations at the weekend and enter information systems, transactions on them are concluded only with counterparties with whom the bank has “long-standing ties”.
Corresponding to the time zones, the activity of trading in various currency pairs is also manifested. For example, in the Asian session, large volumes pass through EUR / JPY, USD / JPY , etc.
The most volatile period is usually the beginning of the American session, in addition, at the beginning of the American session, the most “strong” fundamental news usually comes out.
Financial holidays and weekends
| Month | Frankfurt | Zurich | London | New York | Tokyo | ||
| January | 1 (New Year) | January 1 (New Year), January 2 (New Year’s Day) | January 1 (New Year) | January 1 (New Year), 3rd Monday (Martin Luther King’s Birthday. | January 1 (New Year), January 2 (bank holiday), January 3 (bank holiday) | ||
| February | – | – | – | 3rd Monday (President’s Day) | 11 February (Day of the Founding of the Nation) | ||
| March | Easter | Easter | – | Easter | March 20 (Vernal Equinox Day) | ||
| April | – | Friday before Easter (Good Friday), Monday after Easter (Easter Monday). | Friday before Easter (Good Friday), Monday after Easter (Easter Monday). | – | 29 (Nature holiday ) | ||
| May | May 1(Holiday ofWorkers) | May 1 (Labor Day), the 39th day after Easter (Ascension), the 50th day after Easter (Trinity) | The first Monday (May bank holiday), the last Monday (Spring Bank Holiday) | Last Monday (Memorial Day) | May 3 (Constitution Day), May 4 (Citizens’ Day), May 5 (Children’s Day) | ||
| June | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| July | – | – | – | 4 (Independence Day) | July 20 (Day of the Navy) | ||
| August | – | August 1 (Independence Day) | Last Monday in August (Summer Bank Holiday) | – | – | ||
| September | – | – | – | – | 15 (Day of the Elderly), 23 (Changing Equinox) | ||
| October | 3 (National holiday) | – | – | – 2nd Monday (Columbus Day) | Second Monday (Sports Day) | ||
| November | – | – | – | 11 (Veterans Day), Fourth Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) | 3 (national holiday of Culture), 23 (Day of Recognition of Labor) | ||
| December | 24, 25, 26 (Christmas), 31 (New Year’s Eve) | 25 (Christmas) 26 (the day of Christmas gifts) | 25 (Christmas) 26 (the day of Christmas gifts) | December 25 (Christmas) | – | - | In Sydney December 23 (Emperor’s Day), December 31 (New Year) |