Education

Lesson 4: When Can You Trade Forex?

• 1 Feb 2018

Lesson Four: When Can You Trade Forex?

The Forex market is open 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. This presents a very unique opportunity for investors to build their trading strategy around their lifestyle. If you work from 9-5 daily, your trading strategy could be to trade and monitor the markets in the mornings.

Unlike trading stocks where you need to wait for the market to open, with Forex you can open a position any time from Sunday when the market opens, until the following Friday when the trading platforms close for the weekend. You are also able to hold your position throughout the weekend, and continue managing it once the market reopens. You can hold your currency positions for as long as you like, and exit in seconds if you want to.

What is the best time to trade the Forex market?

Over 40% of transactions in the Forex market happen after 6am (GMT). This is when the UK stock market opens. Being able to trade electronically, means we don’t need to be in the UK during the busiest trading hours. We can participate from the comfort of our homes.

Since humans are the ones deciding to buy or sell currencies, the period of highest trading volume is during the daylight hours of the 3 major global trading sessions:

• U.S. trading session
• European trading session
• Asian trading session

Another period of increased trading volume is during economic news releases. Many investors use the data to make their buy and sell decisions.