Forex Market Hours - Table

The forex market is global and is open 24 hours a day on weekdays:

• It opens at 0:00 CET (GMT + 2) on Monday
• It closes at 22:00 CET (GMT + 2) on Friday
• It's closed on Saturday and Sunday as most banks are shut and liquidity is low

There are four regional trading sessions:

• Asia – Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore
• Europe – Frankfurt and London
• America – New York and Chicago
• Pacific – Wellington and Sydney

Each session has unique characteristics; you need to understand these to get the most out of each market.

Asia

The most active currency pairs traded in this session are as follows:

• USDJPY - US dollars to Japanese Yen
• EURUSD - US dollars to Euros
• EURJPY - Euros to Japanese Yen
• AUDUSD - Australian dollars to US dollars

Europe

This is an active session, and there can be significant exchange rate fluctuations due to the trading volume of Euro-based financial instruments:

• Volatility increases when the London market opens
• Activity decreases during lunch
• Activity rises again during the afternoon

America

The most active forex trading begins when New York opens and European traders return from lunch. The American session has the following characteristics:

• Volatility is low since American and European banks have similar levels of influence
• Volatility can increase once European markets close – especially on Fridays
• Trading is aggressive

Pacific

Trading is quiet during the Pacific session.

When are the markets open?

All times are shown as CET (GMT + 2).

The schedule of trading sessions