Forex Market Hours

Many people ask about Forex market hours thinking that it's like the stock market, which opens and closes each business day. But, that's not how the foreign exchange market works.

The Forex market operates 24 hours a day and is the most liquid market in the world, enabling you to enter and exit your positions nearly at will. Yes, it's that open and flexible.

However, the Forex market is also very risky to trade. There are times during the day and night that offer you some very good movement and consequently some higher risk. In short, knowing the "peak and valley" hours of the foreign exchange is more important than knowing that it's open 24 hours a day.

Studying the various currency pairing and how they trade during various times of the day will help determine which pairing (or pairings) you should concentrate on and at which times offer you more opportunities based on your trading style.

It is advisable at first to concentrate on just one pairing. Trying to watch two, three or more pairings can lead you into making bad decisions. So, to begin, focus on one of the big six (major) pairings, which are:

1. Euro Dollar vs. the US Dollar (EUR/USD)
2. British Pound vs. the US Dollar (GBP/USD)
3. Australian Dollar vs. the US Dollar (AUD/USD)
4. US Dollar vs. the Japanese Yen (USD/JPY)
5. US Dollar vs. the Swiss Franc (USD/CHF)
6. US Dollar vs. the Canadian Dollar (USD/CAD)

Yes, there are opportunities at all times of the day and night to make trades with these pairings. However, the best opportunities you will find are when you have two major markets open at the same time.

That's a $100 tip. If you know these windows of opportunity you can decrease risks and increase your potential profits on the FX market.

Here are the major market times you should be aware of:

* New York -- 8am to 4pm EST
* London -- 2am to 12nn EST
* Great Britain -- 3am to 11am EST
* Tokyo -- 8pm to 4am EST
* Australia -- 7pm to 3am EST

You will notice that there are plenty of times to trade (24 hours a day!) But if you look at that list, you will see that from 8am EST to 12pm EST you have two of the largest financial markets open at the same time: New York and London! These are your golden hours to trade Forex online.

You will also notice that, if you are a night owl, you also have some prime hours from about 2am EST to 4am EST, with London and Tokyo both open.

The best way to see which times will work for you is to first open a demo account with a Forex broker. All reputable Forex brokers will have a free demo account available for you to use. Once you have the account set up, log into the demo account during various times of the day. Watch how the market reacts among the various currency pairings.

Given enough screen time, you will start to learn the various nuances of each currency pair and what times of the day will fit with your schedule and your trading strategy.

And when you are ready to trade a live account with real money on the line, you will be much better prepared to make that first trade in this great market.