Forex Market Hours and How to Use Them

The Forex market sessions

The Forex market operates 24 hours a day, five days a week. Traders can take advantage of the different time zones and the way their sessions overlap. Here’s a basic outline of the main trading sessions and their business hours in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT):

Sydney session

Opens at 10:00 PM GMT
Closes at 7:00 AM GMT

Tokyo session

Opens at 12:00 AM GMT
Closes at 9:00 AM GMT

London session

Opens at 8:00 AM GMT
Closes at 5:00 PM GMT

New York session

Opens at 1:00 PM GMT
Closes at 10:00 PM GMT

Tip: To figure out when these sessions open and close in your timezone, add or subtract the appropriate number of hours from the times listed above in GMT.

While each session overlaps with others, the most active trading periods are when the London and New York sessions are open simultaneously.

How session overlaps affect market behavior

You have no chance of developing an effective trading strategy if you don’t understand how the overlaps of Forex sessions influence market dynamics.

Increased liquidity

Two sessions are better than one: when two sessions are open simultaneously, there is more trading volume because there are more traders. That can mean that spreads get lower, so it’s cheaper to enter and exit trades.;

Higher volatility

The price movement during overlaps can be greater, too. This is due to especially large institutional players speculating on both sessions at once. The rapid fluctuations can be a golden ticket for traders, but also means the risks are higher.

Potential for breakouts

Overlaps also amplify the potential for breakouts on the back of news and shifts in sentiment.

Trend continuation

Trends often continue from one session into the next, gaining momentum.

Arbitrage opportunities

For traders who make their bread by buying low on one platform and selling high on another, overlaps are the perfect time to practice their art.

How Forex traders use session times to maximize profits

Different times of day feature varying landscapes in terms of volatility, liquidity, and market conditions. Trading during each period therefore requires different strategic approaches. The chart below contains some brief ideas of how to think about the different sessions.

Session	Characteristics	Strategy 1	Tools	Strategy 2	Tools
Tokyo	Typically lower volatility; major pairs like USDJPY and AUDUSD are more active.	Range trading During this session, prices often move inside of a range. Traders make money on price rebounds by identifying resistance and support levels.	Non-expanding indicators, such as the Relative Strength Index (RSI).	News trading Asian economic releases (e.g. US non-farm payrolls) during this session can impact currency pairs, especially ones that include the Japanese yen.	Economic calendars, analysis of market sentiment, and pre-market volatility indicators.
London	High volatility and liquidity; many major currency pairs are actively traded.	Breakout trading Breakouts from key support and resistance levels during this session can mean some really robust price movement.	Bolling Bands and other technical indicators.	Trend following Trends often become established during this session. Traders use indicators, including moving averages, to confirm these trends and profit from them.	Trend indicators like the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) and Average Directional Index (ADX).
New York	Similar to the London session in terms of high volatility and ample trading opportunities.	Scalping Highly liquid pairs can bring a multitude of small, quick profits that add up to a lot.	1-minute or 5-minute charts with indicators like the RSI or Moving Averages.	Momentum trading Some currencies are moving very strongly in a direction, and will continue to do so on market sentiment or news releases.	Relative Strength Index (RSI), Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD), Average Directional Index (ADX), Stochastic Oscillator.
London / New York (overlap)	The busiest trading time with the highest volume and volatility.	High-frequency trading The best thing to do during the overlap of the two busiest trading sessions is rely on algorithms to execute multiple trades more quickly than a human can. Even tiny price changes during this session can spell big profits.	Automated trading systems.	Arbitrage opportunities Discrepancies of price across brokerages and market platforms can be taken advantage of by traders.	Automated trading systems.

General tips

Adapt to market conditions. You have to keep your nose to the ground for changes in market conditions and be flexible with your strategy. Each session behaves differently, and even within the same session, there can be a lot of variants from one day to the next.
Monitor news calendars. Volatility is highly susceptible to geopolitics and economics releases. Always stay on top of scheduled and unscheduled news.
Use technical analysis. Use technical indicators and chart patterns that are appropriate for the specific session’s characteristics.

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