Forex Trading Session Times

FXClub.com Tip: A forex trading session consists of a period of time in which dealers, brokers and traders buy and sell currency pairs in the foreign exchange market. The time frames for making trades vary by the base currency’s nation. The foreign exchange market is really open 24 hours a day, 5 days per week. Your trading session can occur at any time any of the national markets are open. There are times where multiple markets are open at once, which allows for more trading in the foreign exchange market.

In Eastern Standard Time (EST) the following markets are open Monday thru Friday:

New York 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST
Tokyo 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. EST
Sydney 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. EST
London 3 a.m. to 12 p.m. EST

The trading sessions overlap at the following times:

New York and London: 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. EST
Sydney and Tokyo: 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. EST
London and Tokyo: 3 a.m. to 4 a.m. EST

If you are trading British pounds to U.S. dollars (GBP/USD), it benefits you to have the trading session when New York and London times overlap. This increases the opportunity to find the right buyer/seller trades for the base currency pair GBP/USD.

The trading session opens when the market does and closes when the market closes, so quite literally the market runs 24 hours a day on the weekdays. If you are in the EST time, the market closes about 4 a.m. on Friday and opens at 3 a.m. on Sunday. A forex trading session occurs throughout any of the open market hours.