The Best Forex Trading Hours - Myths and Facts

By: Chris M Lee
Before this article starts, a precedent has to be established first and foremost. The precedent is one of the features of the market that you should be familiar with now, especially so if you are a trader. The Forex market has a trade characteristic that is quite unique to it, in which trade is considered to be 24 hours a day, every week and only closed on the weekends.

When it starts is Eastern Standard Time, 2300 on a Sunday and it closes midnight on a Friday. When one market opens up in one region, then another market will close and vice versa - this is what gives the Forex its longevity as it moves from one region to another during the course of the trading day. Even when you are sleeping, there is still half the world that is still currently trading with breakneck speed and if you happen to suffer from insomnia, you can even access these markets anytime you want and make some decent money as well. In relation, one other thing you should be aware of is the regions of the Forex market; it usually starts in London and ends in New York, stopping by places like Tokyo, Singapore as it moves around the globe.


Because of this, there may be times where there will either be a brief lull or a brief spike in activity, because volume of trade in different regions and markets may differ. Highlight of some of the major centres of Forex trade would be New Zealand, Sydney, Wellington, Moscow, Frankfurt, Moscow and Hong Kong - along with the three major ones that already have been mentioned. One of the myths of trading hours is that there is one perfect trading time where you should be paying attention to.

If that was the case, 70% of the total Forex investor population would be losing out simply because they were asleep and market psychology would drastically change because many of the investors would be then employing the use of managed accounts.

But there is some truth when looking at the busiest peaks of the market, usually when the British, European and American markets are opened. Market volume during these times are usually the greatest but that does not mean that you should be jumping at the chance to get your hands on the trade game at this point of time. High volume does mean that you will make money and some times, people view it as a time of higher competition in the zero sum game.

All in all it also depends on where you are, what you are comfortable with and what currency pair you are currently trading in. This way, you will be able to determine which trading hours are suited best to your investment patterns. It is about time that the myths and facts are both dispelled and told in a no-nonsense, straightforward method. With a clearer idea of when you should be trading and how, your chances of making good money will definitely increase.