What are the different Forex trading sessions out there?
Mainly, you have three different types of trading session:
- Asian Session
- London Session
- New York Session
This pretty much is run around the clock. Asian to London, London to New York, and New York back to the Asian session.
Moving on…
When does the trading session change schedule?
Since we have something called the Daylight Savings, Trading sessions’ schedule changes depending on the month of the year:
- Summer Period (April to October)
- Winter Period (October to April)
Summer Period (April to October)
The Asian session starts from 6 PM to 3 AM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).
The London session starts from 3 AM to 12 AM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).
The New York session starts from, 8 AM to 5 PM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).
Winter Period (October to April)
The Asian session starts from 6 PM to 3 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST).
The London session starts from 3 AM to 12 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST).
The New York session starts from, 8 AM to 5 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST).
Everything's all pushed back by an hour during this winter period, so please bear this in mind.
Now…
If all this may seem confusing, don't worry, there's a very simple solution to this.
Just GoogleForex market hours, and there are different types of Forex session that you can look at, and just apply to your relevant time zone.
What is the best time to trade Forex?
This question is mainly directed for day traders.
If you're like aswing traderorposition trader, or you trade the longer timeframe, it doesn't really matter when is the best time to trade the Forex market.
Because it's irrelevant to you.
But if you're a short-term trader (day trading), then it matters to know which is the best time to trade Forex.
London Session
For traders who want to trade the volatility, then the London session is the best.
Because you have the greatest number of transaction and volatility during the market hour.
London and New York Overlap Session
To be even more precise, the London and New York overlap is the best time to trade.
Which means…
The London and New York session is open at the same time, this is the best time to be trading!
Here’s what I mean:
Source: Oanda
As you can see, the historical hourly trade activity increases during the London session up until it overlaps with the New York session.
This means that if you're a day trader, and you'retrading breakoutsandtrends, London session is the time that you must trade because this is where volatility is the most active!
If you want to trade breakouts during the Asian session, there's really not much meat to eat if you want to trade the trend.
What is the best day to trade Forex?
Just like the best time to trade Forex within certain hours, there are certain best days to trade Forex as well!
Generally, it's Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
This day chart has been provided by Babypips.
In EUR/USD, you can see that the range of this pair during Sunday is 69 pips. Monday 109. Tuesday 142. Wednesday 136. Thursday 145. Friday 144.
You can see that across all the different currency pairs.
You tend to experience increased volatility during Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
Some of the reason could be because that on Monday, traders are still hanging over from the weekend, so they are not too active.
This is why volatility is quite tame.
Similarly, for Friday, people want to pack up for the weekend, so they don't really want activity trade that much.
That kind of explains why volatility on Friday isn't that too high as well.
Recap
- There are three different trading sessions. The Asian, London, and New York.
- The London session is a volatile trading session where you have a lot of transaction coming through.
- London and New York overlap session is where the volatility is at its peak.
- The most volatile days of the week to trade is Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for most currency pairs.
